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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



AMERICAN 



FOUNDRY PRACTICE 



TREATING OF 



LOAM, DRY SAND AND GREEN SAND MOULDING, 

AND CONTAINING 

A PRACTICAL TREATISE UPON THE MANAGEMENT OF 
CUPOLAS AND THE MELTING OF IRON. 



BT 



/ 



THOMAS D. WEST, 

ii 

PUACTICAL IKON MOULDER AND FOUNDRY FOREMAN. 



FULLY ILLUSTRATED. 



f/^- ^ 



NEW YORKf^^===^-^— - 
JOHN WILEY & SONS, 
15 AsTOR Place. 

1882, 



COPTRIGHT, 

1882, 
Bt THOMAS D. WEST. 



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V 



INTKODUCTION. 



In" offering this book to the public, the author would state 
that he has tried to select such matter as would illustrate 
the varied workings of difficult castings, and to offer prob- 
lems for thought and study to practical moulders ; in 
which he has endeavored to make everything plai^^ and 
PRACTICAL, so that the beginner or apprentice can under- 
stand it as well as the jn^actical moulder. The illustrations 
shown are from drawings made by the author, and embrace 
almost all the more difficult kinds of heavy castings. They 
are chosen because they involve some of the highest ele- 
ments of the art of iron moulding. Pattern makers and 
foundry managers, in considering the best method of mak- 
ing difficult castings, can refer to these pages, where it is 
hoped they will find assistance of such a nature as will in- 
crease their profits. 

It may be here remarked, that there are but few trades 
which do not employ more or less machinery in their manipu- 
lation, while the moulder frequently finds himself limited to 
sweeps and a few blocks of wood. Hence he especially 
requires mechanical skill to a large degree, and although 
there may be some appliances used to lessen labor, yet the 
skill required to operate them enters more largely into this 
than into most trades. 

The melting of iron is a subject which will be found 
mite condensed and simi:)le in its treatment, although it is 

iii 



IV INTRODUCTION. 

of gi'eat importance ; find from tlie ample illustrated work- 
ings of tlie foundry cupola and its management, it is l)c- 
lieved many valuable and practical ideas will be derived. 

All the matter here collected is the result of many years' 
experience and practice, not only as a workingman alone, 
but also as a manager of foundries. The author, having 
traveled over and been employed in different sections of this 
country, has had an opportunity of obtaining a varied prac- 
tical knowledge of the American foundry practice. 

The ORIGINAL articles here submitted have, to some ex- 
tent, during the last two years, appeared in the A7nerican 
Machinist ; but they have been expanded, and in some 
cases rewritten for this book, in hopes that the minds of 
practical men may give thought to the subject, and that 
others may be assisted in showing that the moulder's trade 
is one that requires sometlmig higher than the mere mus- 
cular force necessary to pound sand. 

The field for thought and study in foundry practice is 
very large ; and if the author, in jDresenting these pages 
before the practical machinery moulders of America, 
has benefited a class in whom he takes pride as a member 
and co-worker, he will feel amply repaid for his labors. 

Thos. D. West. 

Cleveland, September, 1882. 



CONTENTS. 



THE MOULDER AND THE FOUNDRY. 

PAGE. 

The Moulder and His Trade, 1 

Learning the Moulder's Trade, . ...... 7 

Building a Foundry, ........ 13 

GREEN SAND MOULDING. 

Moulding and Casting Fly-wheels, 19 

Surface and Bottom of Green Sand Moulds, .... 27 

Moulding Large and Small Pulleys, ..... 30 

Finishing Green Sand Moulds, ....... 40 

Moulding Bevel and Spur Wheels in Green Sand Without a Pattern, 45 

Improvement in Moulding Gear Wheels, Pulleys, Etc., . 50 

Venting Green Sand Moulds, ....... 56 

Moulding Kettles with a Dry Sand Cope and Green Sand Bottom, 59 

Dropping of Green Sand Copes, ...... 03 

Moulding Kettles in Green Sand Without a Pattern, , . 67 

Moulding Elbow and Branch Pipes Without a Pattern, . 71 

Casting Large Pipes in Green Sand, ...... 78 

Ramming Up the Teeth of Gear Wheels in Green Sand, . 75 

Making and Venting Beds, .81 

Method of Making a Heavy Green Sand Casting, ... 90 



Vi CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

Iron and Wooden Flasks, .94 

Skimming and Flow-off Gates, 101 

Making a Green Sand Basin — Runners and Gates, . . , 104 

Weighting Down Copes — Damp Foundry Floors, . . . Ill 
One Hundred Items that Apprentices Should Know and Remember, 117 

LOAM AND DRY SAND MOULDING. 

Building and Firing Large Ovens, 125 

Ovens for Drying Small Cores, 132 

Two Ways of Moulding Crooked Pipes in Loam, . . 137 

Moulding Large Quarter-turn Pipes in Loam, . . 144 

Moulding Kettles in Loam, ....... 149 

Casting Anvil Blocks, ........ 154 

Sweeping an Octagonal Loam Mould, ..... 159 

Building or Laying Bricks for Loam Moulds, . . . 167 

Venting Loam and Dry Sand Moulds, 172 

Moulding Rolls and Making Roll Flasks, .... 176 

The Surface of a Loam Mould, 184 

Sweeps and Spindles, . . . . . . 187 

Moulding Gear Wheels in Dry Sand or with Cores, . . . 193 

Making Return, Elbow, Branch, and T-pipe Core Arbors, . 198 

Making Hay Rope Loam Cores, 204 

Blacking and Sleeking Loam and Dry Sand Moulds, . . 208 

Iron Casings for Moulding Pots in Loam, , . . . 215 

Drying Moulds, 220 

Chaplets and Their Use, 227 

Leaving Risers Open or Closed on Loam or Dry Sand Moulds, 234 

Reservoirs and Ladles for Pouring Heavy Castings, . . . 237 

Scabbing of Green Sand, Dry Sand, and Loam Moulds, . 245 



CONTENTS. Vii 
MANIPULATION OF IRON CASTINGS. 

PAGE. 

Contraction and Cracking of Castings, 248 

Feeding and Shrinkage of Melted Iron, . , . . 360 

Burning or Mending Heavy C'astings, . . « . . 267 

Chilled Cast-iron Castings, 272 

Making Chilled Castings Smooth, ...... 276 

Splitting Pulleys and Other Castings, ..... 279 

Straightening Crooked Castings, 282 

Cast Iron, , . 289 

Mixing and Melting Iron, ........ 293 

Iron Mixtures, 296 

Odd Ways of Melting Iron, 301 

The Tuyeres and Lining of a Cupola, 307 

Preparing Cupolas, 314 

Fuel and Charging Iron, ....... 322 

Tapping Out and Stopping Up Cupolas, . . . . . 331 

Air Furnaces, .......... 336 

NOTES AND RECEIPTS. 

Blacking Mixtures, 343 

Loam Mixtures, 347 

Dry Sand Mixtures, 353 

Core Sand Mixtures, 358 

Green Sand Facings, ......... 363 

Cleaning Castings, » . 367 

Weights of Castings, , . .370 



INTRODUCTION. 



The Moulder and the Foundry. 



THE MOULDER AND HIS TRADE. 

Ask any mechanic what trade he thinks requires the 
greatest amount of mechanical ability and he will say his is 
the one, and perhaps go on to state some of the fine points 
connected with it. If the moulder should be asked this 
question, he would probably get excited over it, on account 
of the low estimation in which his trade is held. 

The moulder's trade may not be the most mechanical of 
all trades, but it is decidedly entitlett to more respect and 
consideration than is usually given it. Other tradesmen 
must remember that to be a good moulder requires more 
than the muscular force necessary for ramming sand — an 
idea that has been expressed time and again. The machinist 
with a clean Monday suit on and a j)air of calipers in his 
hand ; the pattern-maker with his plug hat looking over 
his drawings ; the blacksmith making the sparks fly ; all 
have a dignified appearance. The position of a moulder 
lying on his back under a cope, or on his belly ramming under 
some pattern, is not suggestive of dignity. The general 
impression is that the nicer tlie clothes, the more mechanical 
is the trade. 

The moulder with his black face and clothes, and sur- 
rounded by the usual appliances of a foundry, such as 

1 



2 THE MOULDER AKD THE FOUNDRY. 

bricks, loam, mud, aslies, straw, horse manure, blacking, sand 
and clay wash, might have a romantic, but is far from having 
a dignified appearance. Should he attempt to put on 
dignity, when he is prostrated or laid out for repairs on some 
sand heap, caused by carrying hot iron or doing a heavy 
feeding job, it Avould be all knocked out of him. Like a 
man picking up hot iron, he would be forced to lay it down* 
again. 

It is this want of dignity about a foundry that lowers the 
trade in the estimation of men, and the moulder will have 
to look for other things than dignity. Almost all men can 
remember, when they were children, of making mud j^ies and 
playing in the sand, and sometimes the pies would be put 
into their mother's oven to be baked. This might be called 
dry sand moulding ; but when the dusty sand was fired into 
the child's face, if he had any pluck, he would not sit right 
down and pick the sand out of his eyes and say or do noth- 
ing to retaliate. So, should this -article offend or j)ut sand 
into the eyes of any other tradesman, he must not think that 
it was done to blind him, but rather to wake him up ; and 
if he feels like fighting there will be no objection to his doing 
so. 

How sublime and grand is the structure of the steam 
engine — the miglity power of machinery! Yet useful and 
ornamental castings used in all shapes and forms are made 
from pig iron and old scrap iron, and formed in sand. For 
all this, all thought is of tlie work of the pattern-maker or 
the machinist. It is not till some scabs or sand-holes in the 
casting are noticed that the moulder is mentioned. Then 
what abuse the poor moulder does get! 

All moulders are not thorough-j^aced; if they were, there 
would not be half the trouble there is in getting good cast- 
ings. Tliere is no trade that requires more long-headed, 
cautious and mechanical operations than that of the moulder. 



THE MOULDEK AND HIS TRADE. 3 

Why is it that all the castings made in a foundry cannot be 
good and perfect like the day's work of a machine, black- 
smith, or boiler shop ? Is it because the men and boys that 
learn moulding are such as are rejected or not allowed to 
learn other trades on account of being blockheads? If it were 
possible that such was the case, it would then be reasonable 
to say that should any other set of tradesmen have learned 
moulding, bad castings would never be seen. The moulder's 
trade is learned by boys and men, the same as any other 
trade, and foundry bosses are as good judges of character as 
any other class of foremen. Few foundries Avould hire a boy 
that wore kid gloves and a collar that holds his head up. 
Such boys are generally selected from sound and staunch 
material. Taking it for granted that as good and as smart 
boys learn moulding as learn other trades, is it to be taken 
for granted that they fail as a class when they become men ? 
The more we think of the matter, the more it looks as if it 
Y/as the want of a knowledge of moulding more than the 
lack of mechanical ability that causes all this trouble of bad 
casting. 

This article is not written to hide the moulder's failings, 
but to get at the truth, no matter where or whom it strikes. 
The moulder should admit that, when he loses a casting 
which he has had full control of, it is no more nor less than 
his ignorance or carelessness that caused the loss. The 
proof is that when he makes it the second time he gets a 
good one. The loss of a casting does not imply that the 
moulder is ignorant or is not a mechanic, since castings 
are often lost from some little, insignificant cause. There 
are a thousand-and-one ways of losing castings; and the 
moulder, when making the second casting, is nearly as 
liable to have that bad, from some other car.se ; and the 
moulder does not live who never lost a casting. 

Sometimes the excuses for bad castings are laughable. 



4 THE MOULDER AKD THE FOUNDRY. 

The story is told of a moulder who made four pieces — every 
one bad — and, when the foreman asked him what was the 
matter, he said that one dropped, one flopped, one run out, 
and that one was a " waster." The boss told him to make 
five more, as he would like to know what would be the mat- 
ter with the fifth one. Ask any moulder if the bad casting 
which he has made cannot be made good, and why it is bad, 
and he will answer the first question in the affirmative, and 
have some excuse, instead of an answer, to the last one. 

When a moulder loses a casting, it worries him. There is 
no trade in which a man's peace of mind is kept so unsettled 
as in the moulder's. He is always in a state of expectancy. 
Look at a moulder when he is taking his casting out of the 
bricks or sand, and with a hammer in his liand, he will look 
for something that he does not want to find. Should anything 
be seen that would make the casting bad, how soon the hon- 
est man's look of fear changes to despondency, or he shows 
his character by throwing the hammer down and stalking 
around the shop with a look of indifference, as much as to 
say that he was not responsible ; or he will seek consolation 
by laying the blame on some poor helper core-maker, or 
on some moulder that worked with him. It takes a moulder 
that is a sweet talker to get out of the blame for a bad cast- 
ing, when he knows there was no one to blame but himself. 
Losing castings with one moulder is a frequent occurrence, 
while another will be noted for success. This success may 
continue a long time, on the strength of which he will get 
careless, and some day, to his sorrow, he has a bad casting. 
He makes it over again, guarding with the greatest of care 
the conditions that caused the first one to be bad, and his 
mind being riveted to this point, he neglects others, and the 
second casting goes the way of the first. If now he has not a 
well-balanced mind he may lose almost every casting he tries 
to make, and it is not till he makes an effort to overcome his 



THE MOULDER AND HIS TRADE. 5 

nervousness and lack of confidence, that he will be able to 
make a reliable mould. 

A casting made by a half-drunken moulder would be more 
likely to be good than one made by a nervous moulder. 

Any moulder when starting on a large responsible mould 
siiould have a clear head, so as to master the job with his 
brains before he puts his muscular forces to work. This will 
give him confidence, which along with a good mechanical 
judgment is a very essential feature in making good castings. 
About the best prool that moulding is a trade that requires the 
best of physical and mental power, is to notice the moulder 
when his castings come out all right, and likewise when they 
are bad. In looking at a bad casting, the question is always 
asked. What made it bad ? Such a question implies that the 
cause is not apparent, but that it needs investigation. 

The blacksmith when forging his iron into any shape with 
his hammer, can, the same as the machinist or pattern-maker, 
see the effect of every movement he makes as being a move 
towards the end. Should any part not be done right, it will 
be visible to the eye, and the little mistakes can be remedied 
without waiting till the whole job is completed. 

Moulding is like to a man fishing, he cannot see what he 
will get until it is out of the water; and he may spend all day 
working hard to catch something, which when brought to 
light will be a worthless minnow. 

The ramming of sand is what any one having the neces- 
sary strength can do ; but the light or heavy ramming re- 
quired on the different sections of a mould, demands Some- 
thing more than strength and stupidness. The mMioJi of the 
rammer is visible, the result of the ramming is invisi- 
ble. 

A moulder may work from one day up to one or two months 
on a job, and every night when he goes home he feels anx- 
ious to know the result of his day's work. There are often 



6 THE MOULDER AN^D THE FOUNDRY. 

times when a moulder would forfeit his day's wages if he could 
only see or know the result. 

Often things happen to castings that will puzzle the best 
of moulders to fathom, and which, when found out, involve 
some chemical or scientific principle that professors are very 
proud in talking about. 



LEARNING THE MOULDER'S TRADE. 



LEARNING THE MOULDER'S TRADE. 

When a young man starts out to learn the moulder's 
trade, about the first thing he does is to get a trowel, stick 
it in liis pocket, and call himself a moulder. He comes to 
his work finely dressed, with a cigar in his mouth, and his 
talk is about anything rather than what he is doing. This 
is not the case with all beginners, but it is true of the 
majority of them. Once in a while a young man who has 
more sense and less conceit, instead of calling himself a 
moulder takes every opportunity to make himself one. He 
is careful not to give offense by speaking slightingly of 
work he knows nothing of, and at once makes friends of 
those whose skill he may profit by. He may wear good 
clothes, and perhaps smoke a cigar, but there are different 
ways of doing such things. Instead of spending his even- 
ings around saloons, he may be found a member of some 
debating society, discussing the elements of pig iron, or he 
is home making a drawing representing the way some 
moulder is making a difficult casting, which drawing he 
will preserve for future reference. When a moulder loses 
a casting he will note the cause and profit thereby, and 
when he loses a casting himself, he will welcome and profit 
by any advice or assistance in order that the next one may 
be good. At his work he will be diligent and careful, and 
always ready to give a *Mift" or help any one that is 
in trouble. He is not afraid of asking questions, and 
always aims to make the second casting better than the 
first one. He will be joatient, and not be looking for the 



8 THE MOULDER AKD THE FOUNDRY. 

foreman to give him work that he is not capable of execut- 
ing. When he borrows a tool it is sure to be returned, and 
his own tools he willingly lends and keeps them clean and in 
place. He never has much to say, and attends strictly to 
his own business. 

These qualifications in a young man will make friends, 
without which his progress will be slow. The greater part 
of our knowledge is obtained from others. We are in- 
debted to thousands of people for what we know of the 
moulder's trade. 

Some beginners will say that they do not get any show ; 
that the boss is givmg it all to others. It is hard for 
an outsider to pass an opinion on this. Very often appren- 
tices overrate their ability, thinking they are capable of 
taking work that they would only lose if given them to do. 
It is a great failing of young men, and, in fact, of the 
human race generally, to think ,they can do things they see 
others doing. If we could only " see ourselves as others see 
us," we would, in many cases, be more contented in our 
situations. 

It is often the case that a worthy apprentice is not ad- 
vanced as he sliould be, on account of some prejudice, or, 
sometimes, an established principle of keeping the boy down. 
A young man should find out the character of the establish- 
ment before he makes an agreement to learn the trade there. 
A shop that makes a specialty of two or three different kinds 
of casting, is no place to learn the moulder's trade. Try 
and get a start in a good jobbing or steam engine foundry ; 
such shops as these generally have all the science of the art 
of moulding practiced in them, and in such shops, should 
the foreman feel inclined to keep a beginner on one job all 
the time, he could very seldom do so. Of course he can 
keep changing you from one inferior job to another, and 
should you see all the apprentices treated in a similar man- 



LEARNING THE MOULDER'S TRADE. 9 

ner, it is not of much use to ask to be advanced. But, 
sliould you see others going aliead, (if you are sure the fault 
is not youFs) in a polite manner ask to be tried on better 
work. Whether the answer is favorable or not, continue 
on with your work, domg the best you can, for, if the fore- 
man will not reward any merit that you may possess, you will 
be noticed by some one, sooner or later, who wjU recommend 
and advance you. 

Under any circumstances, faitlifully ^erve your time, then 
leave and go to some other shop, wherever you can get a 
job. 

You may find quite different plans for making work prac- 
ticed there ; but, with a good mechanical judgment, you will 
get along all right. The first day in a new shop is always 
the worst. I have seen men, who have worked the most of 
their lives in the shop where they served their time, and in 
which they had the leading work, and were reckoned good 
mechanics, start in a strange shoj) and be so nervous and 
simple in their actions that the old hands would question 
their being moulders. 

As a general tiling, the class of men who laugh at a 
moulder m a strange shop are the narrow-minded ones who, 
having had experience several times over with every piece 
made, have forgotten their own failures in working up to 
their present knowledge. A man of good sense, and who is 
a thorough mechanic, will not be guilty of such actions. 
On the contrary he will show the stranger where he will find 
the flask needed, and will tell him if there has been any 
trouble in the previous moulding of the job; he will show 
him where there are gaggers hidden, and, in fact, do every- 
tliing that he can to assist him. Should he have any idea 
of opposition, he will wait until the stranger has got a fair 
run of the shop's tools and ways, when it would be a more 
manly and even race to see who is the best mechanic. 



10 THE MOULDER AKD THE FOUNDRY. 

A thorough knowledge of the moulder's trade cannot be 
learned in any one shop, nor is it a sign that a moulder 
thoroughly understands his trade because he has worked in 
a great many foundries. He can see how things are done 
by traveling, but the class of work that would advance and 
instruct him is hardly ever given him to make. Go into 
any foundry and ask how long the men that are working on 
good jobs have been there, and the answer will generally be, 
from six months up to a lifetime. A stranger must stay 
long enough in a shop to show some merit before a practical 
foreman will trust him with responsil)le work. 

A young man traveling to advance himself should, when 
possible, engage only in the best shops to be found, and 
there he should stay at least for one year. After thus 
working for ten years in as many different shops, he can 
blame no one but himself if he is not a good, practical mould- 
er, able to make almost anything in the branches that he 
has practiced. 

Thorough, first-class moulders are very scarce, as such 
men must be capable of melting their own iron, and making 
any castings that come along, in loam, dry sand, or green 
sand. 

It is very seldom that the three branches are learned, or 
practiced, by one man, one reason being that most large 
shops generally have work enough to keep a constant num- 
ber of men working steadily in each of the three branches. 
Another reason is that it is a little too much for most men 
to practically master. 

A man may be good on green sand, and perhaps fair on 
dry sand and loam, or all right on loam and dry sand, yet in 
green sand not amount to much. 

There are two ways of learning the moulder's trade ; one 
is do as you see others do, and the other is to know the 
reason, tohy you do so. Moulders very seldom ask them- 



LEARKIKG THE MOULDER'S TRADE. 11 

selves: Why is such a thing done in order to have the cast- 
ing a good one ? They are told it is to be done; they do it, 
and there let the matter end. 

There is a principle and a cause involved in almost every- 
thing that is done to make castings successfully, and he is 
the farthest advanced in the art of moulding who has made 
them the study, so as to thoroughly understand the cause 
and effect of what he does. 

It has been suggested to me that I should write a few 
articles for apprentices. AVebster says that an apprentice is 
one that is bound to another to learn a trade. Some 
trades may be learned during the allotted time of three 
or four years, but for a young man to think that when his 
apprenticeship is served he has learned the moulder's trade 
is assuming too much. A moulder is an apprentice as long- 
as he lives, as there is not a day that passes that something 
cannot be learned. Whenever any man gets to thinking 
that he knows it all, or that he cannot learn any more, he 
should stop working. He will never be a success. Writing 
to give information to a beginner may sometimes be well 
enough, but the beginner must first see some bad results of 
something that he has done, in order to fully understand his 
trade. 

The first year of a beginner's time is always more or less 
of a loss to his employers. You may tell him what to do 
and how to do it, but he must have practice before, as a 
general thing, any information that may be given to him is 
fully understood, or its value comprehended. Articles are 
often written for ajiprentices, when the author ought really 
to admit that he intended them more for what might be 
called practical men, and that he assumed the simpler title 
to cut off censure and criticism. Such authors should let 
their writings be for the old as well as the young, for there 
are none of us so old that we cannot learn. 



12 THE MOULDER AKD THE FOUKDRY. 

A beginner in one sliop could very often give some valu- 
able information to an old experienced band m anotber 
sho]), and as for a knowledge of tbe principles or manipula- 
tions of tbe moulder's trade, tbere are as many old hands as 
new ones tbat require to understand tliem better. 



BUILDING A EOUKDRY. 13 



BUILDING A FOUNDRY. 

Whek" a man is about to construct a foundry, he cannot 
give the matter too close attention. Let liim make lines 
and rub them out again until he gets something that fills his 
ideas ; then make three or four tracings, and submit them 
to as many different practical foundrymen, with the request 
that they find all the fault with tiiem they possibly can. 
Let these men examine the drawings with great care, and 
present their opinions — especially their objections — in writ- 
ing. Then, with a mind unprejudiced, let him consider 
their opinions, and adopt whatever is good. 

The idea that should be prominent is that the plan of a 
foundry should be decided upon from a consideration of the 
particular class of work for which it is to be used, and other 
controlling circumstances, such as the general character of 
the land, the position of a railroad, river, lakes, streets, 
etc., etc. 

To attempt to show a plan for the construction of a 
foundry that should be of anything like general use in 
building would ha foolish, since scarcely any two foundries 
ought to be built alike. The fact that there are so many 
unhandy foundries is not always evidence that the designer 
was in fault ; since, considering the location of other build- 
ings, and circumstances over which he had no control, 
he may have done the best that could have been done. 

There is one thing, however, builders or designers arc 
greatly to be blamed for, and that is for not providing for 
enlargement. 



14 THE MOULDER AKD THE FOUNDRY. 

If there is not much business or capital to start with, the 
small shop, having only one cupola, one crane, one pit, and 
one oven, is not the building that should be made on j)aper. 
The proprietor or designer should take into consideration 
his available ground-room, and then make a drawing or plan 
as if he were going to build the largest shop that could 
possibly be constructed on the grounds. If there is room for 
three or four cupolas, a couple of air-furnaces, five or 
six cranes, a number of different-sized i^its, and several good 
ovens, let them all be carefully located on the large ])lan or 
drawing. When the drawing is completed, let him consider 
what portion of his large shop would be the best and 
cheapest for him to construct, with the capital he can afford 
to invest in his enterprise to start w^ith. Then, when his 
business increases, and he wants another crane, cupola, pit, 
or oven, he will only have to look at his original drawings, 
and there are places' for them. When he builds his shop 
larger, the builder can find studdings, bolts, or broken brick- 
work to securely fasten the extension to. 

It is not intended that tlie reader shall take the word 
'' extension " to mean the usual kind of extensions that are 
added to foundries, such as ^"^ dog houses," ^^ pigeon holes," 
etc., and which, wherever seen attached to the main shojo, 
are sure signs that extension was never thought of, or 
provided for, when the main building was first jjlanned. 

There is no intention in this to show how to build fine, 
large shops, but rather to show to the man of small capital 
that before he starts to lay out his money he may, to a great 
extent, by careful study and management, make his little 
enterprise a running success. Many a man has failed for 
want of judgment in the beginning. 

There are two things that are connected with every enter- 
prise. One is the advantage and the other the disadvantage. 
When a man does not see both, it is evidence that he has 



BUILDING A FOUNDRY. 15 

not deeply investigated the subject. A man who takes 
every element and business point separately, and thoroughly 
dissects them, not only can know what is best for him to do, 
but will be inspired with such confidence and energy that 
the word *^ failure " would have to be printed in larger type 
than is yet used for him to see it. 

In building a foundry, the shop should be built high. 
The medium height for shops that do crane-work is about 
twenty feet. This measurement is from, the floor to the 
large girders, or beams, that the top of the crane is held by. 
In fact, any foundry should be built high, so as to give 
plenty of space for the gas, smoke, and steam (which is 
always generated at casting time) to rise up over the men's 
heads. To carry hot iron through a dense fog of gas, 
smoke, and steam is a duty that is not only unpleasant, but 
has been the means of many workmen getting badly burned. 

The next point, and one of great importance, is to have 
the shop constructed so that plenty of light will be admitted 
from the roof, as well as from the sides. A dark foundry 
is not only disagreeable to work in, but is the cause of many 
rough and poor castings. It is also a great drawback in 
getting out work fast. 

A foundry that is built for large, heavy work, cannot be 
too strong. The doors, or openings, through which the 
large castings are delivered, should not be less than fourteen 
feet wide and ten feet high. It is best to have the doors 
hung by weights, so they will slide up and down. Doors 
that open out or in, or that run backward and forward 
on sheaves, are always more or less in the way. Doors, when 
it is possible, should be placed in a part of the shop so that 
when opened the dust cannot be blown on the moulder 
or his mould, as it is not only disagreeable but it hinders 
him from doing his work. 

Cupolas should be built in that part of the shop in which 



16 THE MOULDER AND THE FOUNDRY. 

tlie large doors are situated, as generally this part of a 
shop is only used for a road or gangway. Placing doors and 
cu])olas near together utilizes room, as the room for several 
feet around a cupola is not used for moulding. This plan 
also keeps the dirt and dust from the doors and cupola 
together, and the moulding room, destroyed for one, will 
answer the purpose of the other. 

Loam and dry sand moulding should be kept in a part 
of the shop distinct and away from tlie green sand floors 
or moulding room, as the dirt and mess that pieces of brick, 
mud, straw, cinders, etc., make are very disagreeable, and a 
hindrance to the green sand moulder. The best part of the 
shop for loam and dry sand work is at one end, and near the 
ovens. 

Tlie ovens should be located in the part of the shop where 
there is not much traveling done, either by cranes and cart- 
age, or foot travel ; also where the railway tracks that the 
oven carriages run in and out on, will take up the least 
valuable room. 

Large and small pits for casting, or ramming up moulds 
in, should be as handy and as near as possible to the loam- 
work. 

When air furnaces are required, they should be located as 
near as they can be to the loam-work, and where there will 
be nothing in the way of delivering heavy or large scrap 
iron to charge them up with. They should be built up 
enough above the level of the foundry floor so that the tap- 
ping hole will be from three to four feet above the floor, in 
order to admit the pouring of moulds direct from the fur- 
nace, or to have the liquid iron first run into a large basin 
or ladle, from which it is admitted into the mould. 

Every well-regulated foundry should have good facilities 
for cleaning castings, which, when possible, should be 
cleaned in an adjoining room, so that the moulders will not 



BUILDIKG A FOUKDRY. 17 

be hindered from their work by waiting for a crane, look- 
ing out for flying iron chippings, and giving orders for 
lioisting and lowering the crane, that cannot be heard on 
account of the noise. 

A narrow or wide track can be laid between the casting: 
and cleaning shops, and as soon as the heavy castings are 
hoisted out of their moulds, they can be loaded on a car and 
run into the cleaning department, in which there should be 
a crane for handling them. In tlie cleaning room there can 
be tumbling-barrels and vitriol-tubs for the cleaning of small 
castings. 

Shops that do heavy and light work should have the light 
work done in parts of tlie shop entirely separated from the 
heavy floors, for the reason that grades of sand better adapt- 
ed for each class of work can then be used, and the work 
done to pay better. The portion of the building to be used 
for the moukling of heavy castings should be constructed 
with a view to strength, while the portion for the light cast- 
ings can be constructed more chea2)ly. 

In selecting ground to build on, tliere should be three or 
four wells or holes dug to see if it is subject to dampness or 
water. Should there be water found at the depth of six to 
eight feet, the position should be rejected — tliat is, if the 
foundry is to be constructed for a heavy line of casting that 
will require bedding in the floor, or should pits be required. 
When planning a shop, there should be i:)lenty of time 
taken before it is let pass into the builder's hand for con- 
struction. Hasty planning is likely to be sooner or later re- 
gretted. 



Green Sand Moulding. 



MOULDING AND CASTING FLY-WHEELS. 

The engravings herewith shown represent different plans 
of sweeping and moulding fly-wheels. The lower cut is a 
wheel that had a full pattern for the arms and hub, the rim 
being swept out. For forming the cope part of the rim 
there were wooden segments, R, used. A straight sweep which 
formed the joint, also struck or marked on the joint a true 
circle to set the segments by. The reasons for using the 
wooden segments was that the wheel was quite a heavy one, 
and if the moulder did not gagger it well the cope would be 
likely to draw down. 

When gaggers are set on the sand-bed or mound, they 
will generally show their prints, so as to require knocking 
back, which, when there is a large cope surface, or a large 
numbers of gaggers, requires considerable time and labor. 
Besides this, it is not always a safe plan to knock back 
gaggers, as it will generally loosen them, thereby causing 
trouble. 

Some moulders ram up large copes without marking the 
mould with them, while others make their mould look as if 
they intended to use the hills and hollows for a guide to 
close the cope on by, instead of shakes or pins. 

19 



20 GREEN" SAISTD MOULDIN^G. 

In starting to mould this wheel, a good cope or cinder bed 
is made, the spindle seat set, and sweep, B, attached. As 
this was a half-wheel, the half-hub and three-arm pattern 
was bedded in true and level, using for a guide the faces of 
the sweep. After the arms and half-hub were bedded in, 
the outside or rim was rammed up, after what some might 
think an odd plan. Instead of ramming the rim, or outside, 
u]), for the purpose of forming a surface to ram up the cope 
on of all common sand, which has to be shoveled out when 
the cope is lifted off, m order to ram it up again to form 
the sides and bottom of the rim, the following plan was 
adopted. The adoption of this plan not only saved the 
extra work of ramming up a large hole twice, but also gave 
a more solid mould than could be formed where there is only 
the sweep to work with. 

In first starting to ram up this rim surface, the sweep is 
set to the right position, and common sand is rammed up 
solid within about one inch of the bottom face of the 
sweep. This bed is then well vented with a large wire, 
after which the vent-holes are stopped up on the sur- 
face, to prevent loose sand from filling them up. Facing- 
sand is now shoveled on up to the height of about 4", 
projecting out 2" on each side oyqv the width of the 
rim, on the outside of which common sand is shoveled. 
The sweep having been raised up, this sand is made 
level all around, after Avhich this course is rammed the 
same as a moulder would ram any course of sand for a 
heavy casting. The sweep is again raised up, and another 
course of facing and common sand shoveled around it, 
the rim being all facing sand, with the common sand 
outside for a backing. This is repeated until the hole is 
rammed up high enough for a straight sweep, which is 
now screwed to the piece of boiler plate P, for sweeping 
off the joints. 



MOULDING AI^^D CASTING FLY WHEELS. 



21 

















MOULDING FLY-WHEELS. 



22 GREEN SAND MOULDING. 

After the joints are made and the cope rammed up and 
lifted off, the rim sweep is set back again and the rim of 
the wheel is then swept as folloAvs : 

The sand is first shoveled out within one inch of each side 
of tlie rim and within about two inches of the bottom. (This 
sand being all facing is wheeled to the facing boxes and used 
again for another wheel, or for any other heavy class of 
work.) The sweep is now lowered inch by inch until the 
rim is swept out as wanted. In order to properly divide 
the wheel for a half one, a long straight edge is used, having 
a half circle the size of the spindle cut into it, which being 
j^laced against the spindle, a half-wlieel is then marked off, 
and wooden blocks the shape of the rim, having prints for 
shaped cores like F, F, are then placed on the bed and the 
ends of the rim ]-ammed up. The wooden arms, end-blocks, 
and half -hub pattern are now drawn, and the whole mould is 
sleeked and finished up. 

The castings are poured by gates underneath the rim, as 
shown. 

The second, or middle cut shows another plan of sweep- 
ing up fly-wheels. The common plan of covering over large 
fly-wheel rims is by using segments of cores, as shown at W; 
or sometimes loam rings or plates cast with j^rickers on 
them, and then filled and swept off with loam, are used. 
When the oven 13 too narrow to dry these covering rings or 
plates, they are cast in two half-circles, so as to be admitted 
into the oven. The plan here shown is to cover the rim 
with green sand as it is being rammed up, which is done as 
follows : 

The level bed, Y, is first made and then the segment 
ring rim jiattern, i), which is attached to an arm as shown, 
is set on the bed. After the cores for forming the 
arms and hub (as shown on the opposite side) are set ; 
the rest of the inside of the wheel is swept up. The 



MOULDING AN^D CASTING FLY-WHEELS. 23 

arm that is attached to the segment rim, shown at F on 
the plan, is then taken off, the segment rim is set back, 
and the outside and top of the rim is rammed 
up, and the segment pattei'n having a slight draft to 
it, is, when ready, drawn out around endways. The 
moulder can now look into the rim mould, to see 
that everything is all right. After this replace the 
pattern or segment, inserting one end into the end of the 
mould 2" or 3", and ram up and finish another segment. 
Repeat this operation until the whole rim is rammed 
up. 

In ramming up the last segment, the moulder may ask 
how the pattern is got out. This is done by having a 
covering core to close up the last segment, or by having 
a cast-iron flask as shown at A, one end of which is rammed 
up, and then the pattern is moved back after lifting off the 
flask. When replaced the other end is rammed. The whole 
flask could be rammed up at once if there was another piece 
of segment pattern used. For rodding over the top of the 
rim, which must be done in a reliable manner, there are 
cast-iron frames used, as shown at X. After these frames 
are well bedded on, and about 4" or 5" of sand rammed over 
them, there are some pigs bedded on to hold it down, as 
shown at H, the pigs being put on before the pattern is 
drawn. 

This segment pattern could be improved and made to draw- 
out endways easier by having it cut like two wedges, as shown 
atX. 

For the benefit of moulders that may be afraid to try the 
plan, I would say that I am acquainted with one foundry 
where nearly all wheels are made in this way, with good 
success. 

The upper cut shows the process of moulding fly-wheels 
having wrought iron arms ; also for forming cast-iron arms 



24 



GREEN SAND MOULDING. 



with cores, having a full pattern for the arms and hub ; and 
fly-wheels cast one-half at a time. In moulding wheels 
having wrought iron arms, it is generally known that the 
rim is cast separately and first, and that the hub is cast after 
the rim is cold, or has shrunk about all it will shrink. Should 
a wheel having wrought iron arms have the hub and rim 
cast at the same time, there would not only be the difference 
of the shrinkage of the rim and hub to contend with, but 
also the expansion of the wrought-iron arms, for as soon as 
the mould is poured, the arms will commence to ex23and. In 
a short time the rim and hub will commence to contract. 
The rim being much larger than the hub, its contraction 
will be several times greater, and with the expansion, or non- 
contraction of the arms, the inexperienced moulder will be 
able to see what the result would be. If he does not think of 
it at the time he will find the next mornmg the rim cracked 
or broken. 

For wheels with hubs over 12" diameter, the arms should 
be made with a taper on the ends that are cast into the hub, 
as shown at S. This taper can be sv/aged on by the 
blacksmith, or turned on by the machinist. For large 
wheels having a hub over 24" diameter, it is better 
to have the taper turned, as they will then be sure to 
have a true smooth taper, which the hub when it 
contracts Avill have a better chance to pull in or away 
from. 

For very large hubs it is best to have key cores set in at 
the end of the arms, as shown at N, as they can be made 
to answer two purposes ; the first being, that should tlie 
moulder not feel safe, as regards tlic contraction of the Inib 
freeing itself from the arms, the key cores can be dug out, 
and iron keys driven in to force the arms outward ; this 
being done while the casting is yet red hot. When the 
casting is cold, should the machinist find that the arms are 



MOULDIKG AND CASTING FLY-WHEELS. 25 

loose, he can drive in permanent keys to hold the hub firm 
and stiff. This class of hubs should always be poured with 
iron not too hot, and the moulding of them should be done 
with the greatest of caution. 

Before the hubs are cast, or the center core set, the rim 
should be tested with a pair of trammels, or with a sweep 
attached to the spindle, to see if the wheel has contracted 
evenly all around. I have seen wheels drawn out of true so 
much, that in setting the center core in the hub, it had to 
be set over ^'' out of the center, in order that the hole could 
be bored true with the rim. 

When this class of wheels are moulded without having a 
full pattern to work with, the rim can be swept out, or 
formed with a segment, and the ])rojections B E can 
be formed in cores ; but for moulding the hub it is better to 
have a full pattern to work with. 

At M M, is shown a plan for making cores to form cast- 
iron arms. Tiic wooden arms shown are for the j)urpose of 
making or moulding wheels that are covered entirely with a 
cope, having the rim swept out as described and illustrated 
by the lower cut. 

Very often large wheels are cast in halves, having chipping 
or planing pieces cast on, so as to allow them to be fitted 
together. Without experience in making such wheels, it is 
often found that when it comes to putting them together 
they will meet at the hub leaving the rim open as shown 
at T. Chipping off the hub to bring the rim together will 
often make the wheel out of round, to avoid which the rim 
should be moulded so as to project from \" to ^" beyond the 
face of the hub. 

V V shows the general plan for coring and casting half 
fly-wheels. Sometimes for heavy wheels there are lugs cast 
on the inside of the rim, so that bolts can be made in 
connection with keyed irons. 
3 



26 GREEIS^ SAKD MOULDING. 

Tn moulding fly-wheels tliere is not always the attention 
given tliat should be in regard to haying the faces true and 
the rim an exact circle. A good moulder will take as much 
pride in trying to make a wheel that will run true and even, 
as lie will to have a smooth solid casting. 



SURFACE AND BOTTOM OF GREEN SAND MOULDS. 27 



SURFACE AND BOTTOM OF GREEN SAND 
MOULDS. 

There is no part of a mould that requires more precau- 
tion and judgment, coupled with a knowledge of thorough 
practice, on the part of a moulder, to insure a first-class 
casting, then ramming the surface and bottom of a mould, 
and there is no other part of a mould that moulders have 
so many different ways of handling. Take, for example, 
almost any pattern, and give it to a moulder to bed it in the 
sand ; after which take it to another shop, and try a second 
moulder (being sure that he did not know how the first 
man handled it in moulding), and so on until six or seven 
shops have been visited, and you need not be surprised that 
each moulder, who considers himself a good workman, has 
a different way of performing his work. A few will handle 
the job understanding why they do certain things, while the 
rest will follow a series of details which has been simply taught 
them. The latter is a class which will have many super- 
natural, profound, and flimsy excuses for bad work. Moulders 
frequently entertain the idea that the heavier the casting, 
the harder should be the surface of the mould, but in my 
practice this has proven erroneous. There are light large 
castings made which require the surface and bottom of the 
mould to be very hard, so as to resist destruction threatened 
by the sudden head or pressure caused by fast pouring of 
the molten iron. If the beds of some solid heavy castings 
were made too hard, the moulds would be liable to be blown 



28 GREEN SAND MOULDING. 

all to pieces, so that instead of the §olidity, or weiglit of a 
casting being a rule for the hardness of the mould, it is 
better to consider the time it takes to have a head or press- 
ure on tlie surface of the mould during the process of 
pouring. It is very easy to control the hardness of the bed 
of a mould that can be formed with straight edges, but the 
process of bedding a pattern in the sand by ramming tlie 
sand under it is more difficult, and requires more time. 
Some moulders will take almost any pattern, and bed it in 
the sand by digging out a hole and slioveling in from one to 
two feet of loose sand. They then take the pattern and 
pound it down into tlie soft sand, until they think it solid 
enough. This way of bedding a pattern is a quick but 
very poor one, and should be forbidden, as it is in some 
shojos that desire to insure good w^ork. This way of bedding 
a pattern also causes the bottom and surface of a mould to 
be exactly the reverse of what they should be, for the reason 
that rapping down the i)attern makes the surface of the 
mould liard, leaving the sand soft under it, so that when 
the iron first enters the mould it bubbles and scabs. When 
a heavier pressure of molten iron comes upon the mould, it 
will cause the soft sand below to give way more in the 
middle than at the outside edges, so that when the casting 
is taken from the sand it is apt to be both swollen and 
scabbed. In moulding, the under portion of a bed requires 
to be rammed good and solid ; the more strain to be resisted, 
or the heavier the casting, the more solid should this portion 
be rammed. If the bed is formed with straight edges, it 
can be rammed solid up to within three-quarters of an inch 
of the top, then well vented. After this the surfacing sand 
should be put on, and finished by rapping it down with a 
straight edge, or going over it lightly and evenly with a 
butt rammer. This surface sand should be soft, so that 
when the iron enters the mould it will remain still, and not 



SURFACE AND BOTTOM OF GREEN SAND MOULDS. 29 

bubble or boil. For coped moulds that have a large surface 
at the bottom, it is a very exceptional case that requires the 
surface sand to be any harder for a light casting than for a 
heavy one. Making castings by rolling the pattern over in 
flasks, to form the bottom part of a mould, does not require 
the mechanical skill or experience required to bed in a pat- 
tern, and the manipulations are easier and simpler in getting 
the surface and bottom part of a mould to right conditions 
by rolling over and then bedding in ; but as circumstances 
and shop customs more or less control the matter of rolling 
over a pattern or bedding in, men, to be good green sand 
moulders, should be just as able to successfully make a good 
smooth casting by bedding in as by rolling over. 



30 GREEN SANI) MOULDING. 



MOULDING LARGE AND SMALL PULLEYS. 

When making pulleys of various sizes, a shop should be 
supplied with as good patterns and rigging as possible. In 
making small pulleys, the work he can do in a day depends 
more upon the convenience of the rigging than upon the 
i^an. In moulding large pulleys some firms have full pat- 
terns ; but for a special size, or when there is only one or a 
few to make, the sweep and core-box are used to save pattern- 
making. For very large pulleys with double arms these are 
necessary. 

The cut on page 35, showing sweeps, brick-work, and half 
section of mould, having two sets of arms formed with dry 
sand cores, represents different modes of sweeping or mould- 
ing pulleys. By the use of this rigging, pulleys from five to 
twenty feet diameter, and of any width of face required, can 
be moulded. For forming the outside face, there are two ways 
shown. One is by using the sweep, X, and the other by 
using a segment, the elevation of which, and a hook for 
drawing the pattern, are shown at B. With this segment 
the outside can be moulded either in green or dry sand. To 
mould with dry sand there would be required an iron bot- 
tom ring and cheeks, or side flasks. After it is all rammed, 
hoist the outside off by handles on the bottom ring, or plate. 
The mould can then be blacked and run into the oven to 
dry. The sweep can be used either for green or dry 
sand, as well as for loam. If the mould is swept up with 
loam, or dry sand, it is better if possible to hoist off, and 
should the oven not be large enough, it could be drying on 



MOULDING LARGE AND SMALL PULLEYS. 31 

the floor while the inside of the pulley is being moulded. 
shows the stakes driven down alongside of each handle to 
guide the outside off and on. The four plates, one of which is 
shown under the lifting-ring, are to insure a good bearing for 
the outside to rest on, should the sand joint be disturbed by 
walking on, or otherwise, when sweeping the inside. 

When sweeping with green sand, a hole is dug in the floor 
to about the depth of face required, and a wooden curb, or a 
piece of boiler iron, is used as a sup]3ort for ramming the 
sand against, so as to make it solid. After this the sweep 
can be worked around to form a true face, which can be 
made crowning or straight as desired. 

When swept up with loam, the outside of the pulley can 
•be made smooth and true, so as to save turning up in the 
machine shop, if so desired. For very large pulleys this is 
worthy of consideration. 

When moulding the inside of a pulley, the same principle 
is involved, whether there are one or two sets of arms. The 
double sets make the moulding more complicated and risky, 
but in the hands of a good moulder there is little danger. 

There are two ways of making arms ; one is with dry and 
the other with green sand cores. The making of the inside 
will depend upon whether the outside of the pulley is formed 
with the segment, or with the sweep. Should the segment 
be used, the inside of the pulley, when the arms are formed 
in dry sand core as shown, will require to be moulded first, 
so as to have a bearing for tlie segment to be rammed against. 
When the arms are made in dry sand cores, the cores should 
not be made any larger than is required to give them a body 
sufficient to be handled with safety. 

The cut shows one core resting on the bottom level bed, 
which is formed with a sweep. There is a projection on the 
upper side, and also one on the top arm core, so that when 
both come together they make a hub formed of dry sand 



32 GREEN SAND MOULDING. 

cores, and the space between the upper and lower core is 
filled with green sand. The inside is also rammed and 
formed with green sand wherever the arm cores do not fill 
up. 

When the face of a pulley is wanted more than three feet 
wide, the arms would come so far apart as to make one con- 
tinuous hub, very heavy, unless the center core should have a 
deep chamber to take out as much weight of iron as possi- 
ble. Should the hubs be wanted separate, they can be made' 
so by using a flat covering and bottom cores, the same as 
shown at H, H, for forming the bottom and top of the hub 
shown. In order to let the iron run from the top hub down 
and into the lower one, there can be risers or flow gates con- 
necting the two as shown at A. 

The arm core box, P, is used for forming the hub, arms, 
and inside face of the pulley with all green sand. The depth 
of the box is made the same as the face of pulley wanted, 
and is spaced off according to the number of arms required. 

A double set of arms can be made with the green sand 
cores, with almost the same surety that a single set can, 
providing the face of the j^ulley is not too deep. There 
could be two sets of cores made, one being on top of the 
other. 

The green sand cores could not be used with safety when 
the segment is used for forming the outside, nor would it 
be practicable to attempt to use the double set of cores 
unless the outside of the mould was made so that it could 
be hoisted off, and out of the way, as in the jilan of the 
brick-loamed mould shown. Then set the green sand core, 
using for your guide a mark made on the bed with the 
core sweep, W. When the bottom set of cores are placed 
on the bed, the upper set of cores can be placed on toj) of 
the lower ones without any trouble. In this way it can be 
seen if there is any crushing, and the joints of the cores can 



MOULDING LARGE AND SMALL PULLEYS. 33 

be made up so that there will be no fins on the casting. 
This core sweep, W, is also used for giving form to the 
green sand that is rammed between the dry sand cores, when 
they are used to form the arms as shown. 

To make the neatest-looking pulley casting, the green 
sand arm cores are the best when they can be used with 
safety, for when a casting is made of part green and part 
dry sand, loam, or cores, each will leave its own trade mark 
on the casting. The green sand part will swell more or 
less, according to the pressure of iron when the mould 
is being cast, but the dried part of the mould will 
not swell, so when the casting comes out it will have an 
uneven surface. The different colors of green and dry sand, 
loam, or cores, on a casting make it look badly; as if it had 
been made in sections. There are several ways to make a 
covering for the top of the rim and hub, also arrangements 
for bolting or weighting down. The first is to have a level 
dry or green sand cope ; the second, a loam plate ; and the 
third to make-some cores to cover the rim, as shown covering 
the hub at 11, and have a cast-iron flat plate to lay inside of 
the covering cores on top of the sand, or cores, that form 
the arms and inside of the pulley. This plate is used to lay 
the weights on to hold down the inside part of the mould 
when being cast. To hold down the covering cores, small 
weights are used. Sometimes the rim is cast all open, and 
the hub and arms, or inside, are the only parts weighted. 

The gating or pouring of such castings is generally done 
(if the center core is large enough) through the center of 
the core to gates cut into the bottom of the print, so that 
the iron fills up the mould by coming in at the bottom of 
the hub ; or by dropping the iron through runners from the 
top, as shown at A. The iron spindle shown, when used 
for svvee23ing large pulleys should be held at the top by a 
brace stretched across the mould, and fastened to two 



34 GREEN SAND MOULDING. 

upright timbers sunk into the floor three or four feet away 
from eacli side of the mould. If near enough to the side of 
the building, there could be a swinging arm made to reach 
out to the spindle, to hold it firm and steady. 

The arm pattern in the core-box, P, is set into the middle 
of tlie outside frame, and after the core is rammed up and 
ready for the box to be drawn, by hitting the arm at the end 
R, to start it* the pattern can be pulled out easily through 
the hub end, D ; after which the outside box can be taken 
away. 

In making these cores, a cast-iron beveled edge j^late, the 
shape of the inside of the box, and made so as to have about 
\" clearance all around the inside, is set on a level board, or 
a hard bed of sand. The box is then set on, and the 
core rammed up nearly to the arm, which is then put into 
the box and the sand tucked under it even and firm. At 
this point the moulder must be careful, as in making the cores 
in this way, the arm cannot be got at to finish it, or to fill 
up soft places after the core is made. The advantage of 
making a core in this way is, that when setting in the cores 
there is no danger of crushing the arms, or of having fins 
on them, which must be chipped off when the casting comes 
out, which is likely to be the case when one half is formed at 
the outside surfaces of the core, T, T. To lift or hoist these 
cores, there can be lifting-hooks, or nuts cast in the anchor 
or lifting-plates, the lifting-hooks being made so as to come 
up even with the top of the core. When nuts are used, 
long screws, as shown at E, E, are used, and when the first 
core is set in the mould they can be taken out and used for 
the others. 

The cuts 4 and 6 show the plan of making pulleys with a 
draw-ring pattern. In this way any face required can be 
moulded from the same pattern. 

At G is shown the mode of casting a pulley having a face 



MOULDIi^G LARGE AND SMALL PULLEYS. 



35 






4-: 



RIG FOR MOULDING PULLEYS. 



36 GREEN SAND MOULDING. 

wider than the imttern. In moulding this a hole is first dug 
in the floor and the ring pattern set in, leveled and rammecl 
up to about the center of face required. The loose arm and 
hub are then bedded in. The dotted lines show the distance 
the ring pattern has to be drawn, in order to have the arms in 
the center. The pulley can be cast with the rim open, or 
covered with a coj^e, as desired. It is best to make the faces 
about I '^ higher than wanted, so as to give stock for the ma- 
chinist to true up. 

The hub shown is arranged to readily change the core 
prints to any size wanted. The Imbs have a hole drilled 
through their centers, the same diameter as the holes in the 
center of the arm pattern, and there are wooden plugs driven 
into the hubs which project on the side or face that comes 
next to the arm, and centers the hub. Tlie core prints have 
also projections turned on them the same diameter as the 
hole in the hubs, so that a moulder working on pulleys need 
not be running to a pattern-maker every time he wants to 
change the size of prints. 

At 4 are shown two ways of making the rinchor or lifting 
plates. One style has a wrought bent rod cast in them, 
reaching from one plate to the other. Tlie second j^l^n is 
to have a cast-iron rib reach from one to the other — a plan I 
adopted, and find it to be more reliable and to make a stiffer 
])late than the wrought-iron rods. The oval, black spots 
represent the arm between the plates. 

AVhen a double set of arms are wanted in smaller pulleys, 
there are a number of ways in which they can be moulded, 
but as a general rule, foundries do not rig up to make double 
arms, there being so few ordered. When one is wanted the 
rigging is got up with as little labor as possible. In some in- 
stances the lower set of arms is made with cores, or a flat 
core is made inside the ring pattern, having one half of the 
arms and hub formed in it, and the other half is bedded in 



MOULDING LARGE AKD SMALL PULLEYS. 37 

green sand. Before tlie arm pattern is drawn the flat core 
is set over the arms and. staked through holes made in the 
core between the arms. The core is then taken out and the 
pattern drawn, after which the arms are finished and the 
core set back. The pulley is rammed up to where the upper 
arms are wanted, and the rest of the moulding is the same 
as in making a j^ulley with one set of arms. Another way 
of making the lower set of arms is to have single cores with 
half the arm and hul:) formed in them, and when the arm 
pattern is drawn the single cores are placed back, guided by 
stakes or sand-marks made by laying the core on top of 
each arm before the pattern is drawn. 

Although using the cores as described is a quick way of 
forming the lower set of arms, it does not produce as good 
looking casting as when they are formed by the following- 
plans. In some cases foundries have nsed a regular anchor 
plate for the bottom set of arms, and when the castings 
come out the anchor plate had to be broken in order to 
get it out of the casting. When there is time to make the 
rigging, loose plates having nuts for scrcAvs, or lifting-hookr 
cast into them, are used. These plates are set between each 
arm,. and the pulley rammed up 6" or 7". 

A plate having holes to correspond, so that the screws 
or hooks can pass up through and be wedged, is bedded 
on the sand. The pully pattern is then drawn and the flat 
plate, having all the loose plates wedged up to it, is hoisted 
out. The arm jDattern is drawn and the core lowered back, 
after which the pully pattern is gently set back. The 
wedges are now loosened, the flat plate taken out and the 
upper arm and the rest of the pulley is rammed up and fin- 
ished. 

Another way is to have holes in the upper anchor plates, 
and by having two sets of arm patterns, ram up the whole 
pulley. Long bolts with threads cut on each end are used 



38 GREEN SAND MOULDING. 

to bolt the lower loose plates to the top lifting-plate, by 
which the whole core is lioisted out and the lower arm fin- 
ished. The core is then lowered back and the nuts taken 
off. The top portion is then hoisted out and the upper arm 
finished. The bolt holes in the sand are enlarged and the top 
portion lowered down to its place. 

The following dimensions are from what are termed a light, 
a medium, and a heavy set of pulley ring draw patterns, 
from 10" up to 48' in diameter. The face of these patterns 



•LIGHT. 
Diameter. Thickness. 

10" -^ " 



48" ^^" 



3 



MEDIUM. 
10" h' 

48" if 



HEAVY. 

32 

18' 

32 



10" ^^ 

48",. ^ 



generally runs from six to ten inches, and, to draw them, 
holes are drilled through the pattern within |" of the top, 
and hooks instead of screws are used. In making a set of 
these patterns they could be swept up in loam, or in green 
sand, by using a segment attached to an arm having a hole at 
the radius wanted, to fix on a stake driven into the sand ; 
or the arm could be attached to an iron spindle. 

There are some things that a foundryman should think of 
before starting to make a set of draw patterns. One is, tluit 
a poorer grade of iron can be run into heavy pulley castings 
than into light ones. Should a No. 2 iron, that can be 
turned in a heavy pulley, be run into a light one, he might 



MOULDING LARGE AKD SMALL PULLEYS. 39 

be looking for cracked arms, or a blessing from the machin- 
ist that tried to turn them. Where competition is sharp 
it is best to have a light and a heavy set of patterns, so that 
customers can have their choice ; but if you can make them 
believe tliat a heavy pulley will wear longer, it will be more 
money in your pocket. When an establishment intends to 
make nothing but pulleys, it is better to be fitted up with 
what are called split pulley patterns, which require a pattern 
for every width of face wanted. They should also have the 
best of flasks to make them in, l)y which means they can be 
made very fast. But for the jobbing foundry, the draw pat- 
terns are the best, as fewer patterns and flasks are needed, 
and the expense is nothing compared with the cost of get- 
ting up a stock of split patterns, and the necessary flasks. 

For the proportion of either straight or crooked arms, 
there can be found full figures given ) j Chordal in the 
America?^ Machinist, July 23, 1881. 

As regards the shrinkage or cracking of pulley arms, I 
will say, to prevent the arms cracking select iron hav- 
ing the least possible shrinkage. In my practice, when 
there is a car of No. 1 iron sent to the shop, I always test 
it by melting one charge in the small cupola. At the second 
tap I catch a hand ladle full and pour a 1" square bar five feet 
long, and when cool, should the bar have shrunk more than 
I", there will be danger of large light pulleys cracking if 
made from it. To determine if soft when remelted, I have 
some poured from the same hand ladle into some little test 
moulds, having one side of the mould formed with an iron 
chill, and when cool the pieces are broken and tested. 



40 GREEN SAND MOULDING. 



FINISHmG GREEN SAND MOULDS. 

Go into any machine or jobbing foundry, and notice 
moulders finishing or patching moulds that have been broken 
in drawing the pattern, and you will see some one mending 
a corner, for instance, that has been started or broken, by 
taking his swab and wetting the jDart to be patched, and then 
taking some sand and pressing it on the top of the wetted 
part. Another moulder, not having so large a piece to mend, 
will swab the part, and then patch on sand with his trowel ; 
or he may be finishing a cope overhead, when ten chances 
to one he will be raising his trowel for rubbing sand into the 
holes, and every time the trowel goes with a bit of sand it is 
sleeked up against the smooth surface, caused by the pressure 
and sliding movement of the trowel. Although he will see 
the sand falling down, as fast almost as he puts it up, he will 
keep on trying until he thinks something is the matter, then 
he will tell his helper to get him some nails ; that the sand 
is so rotten and poor it will not hold together. 

He will then push up some nails to hold the sand. Nails 
are a useful article, but some moulders Avill make a casting 
without using one, while another, in making the same cast- 
ing, will use two or three pounds, and, perhaps, if he did not 
use tliem his casting would not be good. Some moulders 
will ram up a mould in such a manner that it will not re- 
quire half the finishing it would require if rammed up by 
another. 

If a moulder thinks he has more time to finish tlie mould 
than he has to ram it up, he will hurry or slight the ram- 
ming ; or he will do this, perhaps, in order to catch the use 



FIJ^ISHING GREEN SAND MOULDS. 41 

of the crane, or to get ahead of some moulder on the gager 
pile, etc. As there are plenty of nails in the kegs, he will 
whisper to himself that he will not bother putting a rod in 
that corner, or be particular in ramming it ; for if the pat- 
tern when drawn starts or knocks off the corner, he will have 
plenty of time to patch and nail it. Or he may ram, rod, 
and vent the bottom in a creditable manner, and slight the 
cope, by not tucking the bars good, or ramming up the sand 
solid, and when the cope is lifted off, and a large lump of 
sand falls out, he will think of the nail keg and smile. Should 
the foreman complain about using so many nails he will tell 
him that the crane jumped, or that the old wooden flask had 
ought to have been broken up long ago, and if times are good 
and men scarce, the foreman, to avoid any words, will walk 
away, and in a short time he v/ill order the nail kegs to be 
locked up and carry the key in his pocket. 

About the first thing a moulder should do after his cope 
is lifted off — when the pattern is bedded in the floor — is to 
lay some boards around on his joint so as to preserve it, as 
there is nothing that looks so slovenly as to see the' joints of 
moulds all trampled and cut up by kneeling on them when 
finishing. 

In drawing out a j^attern, the top edge of the mould is 
always started more or less, and it is the first part that the 
moulder should give his attention to, by getting it sleeked 
or fastened down to it original place. . In finishing over the 
mould, if there are any parts that look started, it is best, if 
practicable, to tear them off instead of just pressing the 
sand back — even if there are some nails in it — and rebuild 
or patch it up, not with sand on the trowel, but by using 
the hands to press the sand with. By using the hands a 
moulder can unite and shape the soft loose sand on the solid 
sand in a shorter time and in a great deal more reliable 
manner than by patching it on with a trowel. How much 



42 GREEN SAND AIOULDING. 

more mechanical it looks to see a moulder, when mending a 
cope overhead, take the sand in his hand instead of on the 
point of a trowel. 

When the parts are made solid take a little wooden straight 
edge, shape and smooth off the extra sand, and go liglitly 
over with the trowel or finishing tools. In patching on 
sand a moulder's fingers never caused a cold shut or scabby 
casting; but too much sleeking with tools often does so. In 
such castings as thin pipes or plates, it is better to have the 
fingers go easily over the sleeked or finished mould, and then 
rough the surface up a little, as iron will lie quietly on a 
rough surface, when it would boil or bubble against a 
smooth, sleeked surface. 

If any part of a mould to be mended is too dry for the 
sand to stick to, dampen it by taking a mouthful of water 
and blowing it out in a fine spray. When water is swabbed 
on an extra dampness, or mud, is formed, so that when the 
hot iron is poured into the mould, although it may have 
surface sand the right temperature to lie on as this surface 
gets heated, the heat soon reaches this extra dampness or 
mud, and, as heat, when it comes in contact with dampness 
is sure to raise steam, and the sand not being of a body 
strong enough to hold the pressure, it will escape by lifting 
the sand on top of it, and passing up through the iron 
will cause it to bubble, and cause the castmg to blow. 

If the swab is used it should be only on the surface, for 
then, when the steam is made, it has only to raise the iron 
to pass up through, and, if there is a scab on it, it will be a 
very light one. 

For heavy or light casting sleeking or swabbing must be 
done in an intelligent manner, if good castings are expected. 

THE DRAWING DOWN OF GREEN SAND COPES. 

The surface condition of a green sand cope, while the iron 



I 



Fli^ISHING GREEN SAND MOULDS. 43 

is being poured into the mould, entirely depends on the 
mixture and nature of the sand, and the heat it is subjected 
to. Any section of a cope surface that is exposed to the 
direct heat of the metal for over twenty seconds, requires 
the sand to be strong and close and gaggered well, having as 
little sand under the gaggers as possible, to keep the sand 
from been drawn down. I noticed in a recent issue of the 
Machinist, the assertion made that, with a plate 2" or 
more in thickness, the cope will be l ^.ked hard as a brick 
by the intense heat before the iron reaches it. I only wish 
that such was the case, for it would save work and anxiety 
for the result of many large castings. I have made mou]ds 
in green sand that were not safe to cover with a green sand 
cope, and have covered them with a loam plate, fearing that 
the green sand would draw down. This is caused by the 
sand exposed to the heat getting dry and dropping down on 
the rising iron, which, when the casting comes out, shows 
lumps and sand-holes in the cope part. There are several 
ways of securing a cope surface, to a great extent, from 
drawing down. For instance, mix some flour in your facing 
sand ( about one to sixteen or twenty ), or wet your sand 
with clay wash, and, before closing the cope, sprinkle the 
surface over with molasses water, or beer. 

Above everything, keep your risers and feeding heads air 
tight, so that there is no chance for the air in the mould to 
escape, except through the venting and the sand. Then the 
rising metal will compress the air above it sufficiently to 
keep the sand from being drawn down by the heat, if the 
mould is not too long in filling up, so that the pressure is 
released by the air having time to escape through the vent- 
holes and the sand. There is also such a thing as pouring 
a casting too fast, so as not to give the air a chance to escape 
as freely as it should, thereby lifting your riser cover and 
weights, and letting the air rush out and start your mould 



44 GREEN SAND MOULDING, 

blowing. I have made castings where I have nailed the 
surface of the cope over with nails, keeping the heads about 
ono-eiglith of an inch below the face of the sand, and in 
some cases have had the nails even with the face of the 
mould, so as to insure the cope against being drawn down. 
"When not feeling sure of this, I have made the facing sand 
strong with flour, and wet it with clay wash, and when the 
cope was finished, made it very damp with molasses water, 
building a fire with shavings and chips under the cope, 
until the surface of the mould was dried like a dry sand 
mould. When I thought that none of these extra precautions 
would keep a green sand cope from getting dry or burnt, I 
would then use a loam or dry sand cope, or covering. 



MOULDING BEVEL AND SPUR WHEELS. 45 



MOULDING BEYEL AND SPUR WHEELS IN 
GEEEN SAND WITHOUT A PATTERN. 

Gear moulding is something that nearly every jobbing 
and machine foundry has something to do with. Gear 
wheels are often broken in use, and are readily replaced if 
the patterns are at hand in some foundry near by. But 
when to replace them it is necessary, as is often the case, to 
send a good ways, there is generally great delay before the 
casting is received. 

Some mills and factories keep in stock wheels to replace 
those that are liable to be broken, whicJi is a very good plan, 
as the expense of carrying a few wheels is trifling when com- 
pared with the loss of having a machine, or sometimes the 
entire works, shut down until a new wheel is procured. 

The cut represents a plan for moulding or sweeping up a 
bevel wheel, the pattern work for which can be made in a 
very short time compared with that required to make an 
entire pattern. The sweeps and segment could be made one 
day, and the gear cast the next day, unless in the case of a 
large wheel. The advantages of sweeping up such wheels, 
where there are only one or two wanted, is the saving of 
making a full pattern, and the saving in time. Of course, 
it takes more time to m.ould a gear with the sweeps and seg- 
ments than where a full pattern is used, but this extra time 
is nothing compared with the labor required to make the 
pattern. 

In sweeping up gears in this way the spindle seat is first 
sunk and trued up, and, if the wheel is large in diameter, 



46 GREEN sa:n^d moulding. 

it is best to have the top of the spindle lield firm, by having 
a brace attached to it. Then a coke or cinder bed is placed, 
as shown, after which the sweep Jf is fastened to the spindle. 
A bed for the hub, B, and loose arms, P, also for the inside 
face and the top surface of the teeth, is swept up, and, at the 
same time, the joint is also swept. The hub and loose arms 
are now set on. The surface of the bed and joint having 
been well sprinkled and sleeked up with parting sand, the 
cope is set on and rammed up. When the cope is lifted off, 
the sweep S is fastened to the spindle, having the edge H 
just bearing on the joint, so that when the sweep is revolved 
it will not disturb it. If the joint is disturbed it will leave 
a fin over the tops of tlie teeth. 

The depth of the teeth and rim, also the thickness of the 
plate or web, as well as the hub core print, are then swept 
Vi\). The segment F, having an arm screwed on to it, is 
then secured to the spindle, as shown, and the teeth are 
rammed up. The tops or joint edges of the teeth are better 
for having some long slim nails pushed through the sand. 

The vents should be carried into the cinder bed, instead 
of being carried off at the joint, as is generally done when 
there is a full pattern to mould from. The reason for nail- 
ing and venting in this way is that when the cope is lowered 
down, to see if any of the teeth will crush, if some of them 
should touch hard, the nails will help to hold them from 
being broken, or from sticking to the cope when it is hoisted 
off again. If vented at the top, the fins, of which there will 
be more or less at the tops of the teeth and at the joint, will 
be sure to get into the vents ; but when carried off through 
the cinder bed, the joint all around the flask can be rammed 
so as to prevent any run-outs and burning the flask. 

There should not be less than six teeth on the tooth seg- 
ment. The more teeth, the quicker will the moulder get 
the teeth rammed up. 



MOULDING BEVEL AXD SPUR WHEELS. 



47 









DEVICE FOR MOULDING SPUR AND BEVEL WHEELS. 



48 GREEN SAND MOULDING. 

Great exactness is required in sweeping up gear wheels 
after this plan, in order to get the right number of teeth, 
and also to have the last tooth rammed up of the same 
width and space as the others. After the bed for the segment 
to lie on is swept out, it is best to go around with the 
segment, marking the ends of the teeth on the bed, so they 
may be counted, to make sure of having the last tooth come 
right, before starting to ram up the teeth. W and D show 
the last tooth, which is liable to come larger or smaller, 
when the diameter is not set exactly right. When marking 
off on the bed before ramming up the teetli, sliould the last 
tooth be found to leave too large a space, as shown at D, the 
diameter must be made less. Should the space be too small, 
as shown at W, the diameter must be increased. 

The amount that the radius is changed to bring the last 
tooth right, is aj^proximately one-sixth of the measurement 
that the tooth is too large or small. Shoiild the space be 
-§•" (or f ") too large, the radius should be made y smaller, 
after which it is best to go around again and see if the 
change has made it right. 

The cut R shows the process of sweeping up a spur wheel. 
A level bed is first made, and then the tooth segment fast- 
ened to the arm, which is of different shape than the one 
shown for sweeping uj) the bevel wheel. The collar, which 
is for supporting and allowing the arm to revolve around on 
it, is held firmly by the set screw shown. After the teeth 
are all rammed up and finished, the dry or green sand 
cores can be set on the level bed to form whatever style of 
arms are wanted. The arms are shown at A. The spindle 
is then taken out, the hole filled with sand, and the center 
core set in. The mould is then ready for the cope to be 
set on. 

The cope should be rammed up on a level mould board, 
or on a level bed of sand. After the cope has been tried on 



n 



MOULDII^G BEVEL AKD SPUR WHEELS. 49 

and off it is then set back, or closed on for the last time. 
The weights are then hoisted on, and the bars wedged down 
if necessary. The jionring basin, or runner, and feeding 
heads are made, after which the mould is ready to be poured. 
Referring to the spacing of the teeth in such a way as to 
come out correctly — that is, to have the last tooth and space 
of the same dimensions as all the others — care must be taken 
when rammJng u}) and changing the segment. The best 
plan is to depend upon the marks made at the ends of the 
last tooth on each side ; then, since by ignoring the marks, 
guiding altogether by setting the end segment tooth up 
against tlie face of the last tooth moulded, tliere is danger 
of having a tliin or tliick tooth at the conclusion, after these 
marks are correctly made, it is best to cover tliem over with 
pieces of board, paper, or anything to prevent them from 
obliteration. Another plan sometimes adopted as a guide 
for changing the segment, is to shake out flour on the sand 
bed, so that when the segment is lifted a perfect imj)ression 
of the teeth is shown, and by carefully keeping loose sand 
from the bed there will be correct impressions on the bed by 
which to reset the segment. 



50 GREEK SAND MOULDING. 



IMPROVEMENT IN MOULDING GEAR WHEELS, 

PULLEYS, Etc. 

Probably in no branch of the iron business has so h'ttle 
been done to assist, by mechanical appliances, the skill of the 
workman as in that of moulding. In the main, the moulder 
goes about his work to-day substantially as he did thirty 
years ago, his success depending on his skill in the use of the 
simple tools then known to the trade, rather than to the 
advantages of new appliances. 

As showing, however, that some thought has been ex- 
pended in the direction of improved methods of moulding, 
we illustrate herewith a patent device of R. B. Swift, of 
Cleveland, Ohio, a practical moulder of long experience, 
for moulding such work as gear wheels, pulleys, and similar 
pieces, from a sectional pattern, which we are informed has 
been adopted by some large manufacturing concerns to their 
satisfaction, not only in the saving of time, but in the qual- 
ity of the work produced. 

In drawing the segmental pattern used in making a "casting 
there is always the danger of tearing up the mould. Fur- 
ther, it is sometimes very desirable to make a casting in 
green sand of such form that it would be impossible to draw 
the segment directly. The object of this device is not only 
to provide against the breaking down of a mould with a 
plain pattern, but to provide for using sectional patterns of 
such forms as cannot be directly drawn, such as crown- 
faced pulleys, grooved friction wheels, etc. 

Referring to the engraving, which represents a mould in 



IMPROVEMEI^T li^" MOULDIi^^G GEAR WHEELS, ETC. 51 

process of being made, the use of this device may be ex- 
plained. The segment pattern is shown attached, and, as 
will be noticed, the spindle is embraced by two half boxes, 
which are made to accurately fit it. These boxes are fitted 
to be moved in jaws by means of the screws E, E, In use, 
the segment pattern — whatever it may be — is screwed in 
place, as shown, so as to sweep approximately the proper 
radius. The spindle being in position, the radius is cor- 
rected, so as to be exactly right, by means of the two adjust- 




4 A 

rr^C'V •>•'•-•■* •*•■•••••• ;'•• '•'•■'••':' -v 

*a- !>..:.•.'.• ••..•.» •• .* •• .' ■• .•;.•».•,• • ••■.■ 
:.■-V•>■ ''•■•••■•■''^'■■.'.•.•' •• ■■ •:•■•."'•••:•.%:•.■••. 
,•:.••■•••?.■»•.■.••■,:•;• -■ :•.•••,•: : •;.••: •• • •. - • - 

.■?:•..•.,,;..,:.• ; . --. .. .■-.•■.•. h\V^Y^ysV>V 
. • o . »•• • •.»•••■»•••■•• • ■ 

^f.".-.-*-.*.-,:,"!-. •• •• • •• •••• 

sy?ift's patent device for moulding gear wheels, etc. 

ing screws referred to, the manner of doing this being so 
apparent as to need no explanation. The advantage of this 
almost instantaneous means of adjustment will commend 
itself to any one accustomed to doing this class of work. 

This feature alone would seem sufficient to demonstrate 
the value of the device ; but perhaps the most valuable 
feature is its adaptation to the following purposes : Let it be 
desired to make a casting which has some projecting parts 
that would render it impossible to draw the segment straight. 



62 GREEN SAND MOULDING. 

In this case either of the screws may be turned back, drawing 
the pattern either towards or away from the center, as may 
be desired, until it is free to be drawn without the possible 
danger of breaking down the mould. When used in this 
way the opposite screw to the one being used remains station- 
ary, and serves as an accurate stop or guide by w.hich to 
quickly reset the segment. 



The methods or riggings for moulding, illustrated in this 
article, are those in use for moulding gear wheels and pul- 
leys in the shops of the Cuyahoga Works, Cleveland, Ohio, 
and which I am kindly allowed to present by their permis- 
sion. The upper cut shows the process of moulding a spur 
gear wheel having a top and bottom shrouding on it, using 
only a small segment and arm core box to form or make the 
casting from. 

The difference between moulding a wheel having a shroud- 
ing and one that has none, will be better Tmderstood by 
referring to the article entitled '^ Moulding Bevel and Spur 
Gear Wheels in Green Sand, Without a Pattern," published 
in the Ainericari Machuiist, March 25, 1882. In mould- 
ing this shrouded wheel, the tooth segment X requires to 
have one tooth loose and long enough to come down on the 
sand bed, so that every time the segment is drawn it can be 
replaced exactly, according to the marks made on the sand, 
as described in the article referred to. The flat loose seg- 
ment K, after the level bed is made and spaced off, is set 
on and the tooth segment is set on top of it as shown at Y. 
The teeth are then rammed up and the tooth segment drawn, 
after which the segment shroud is drawn in, and then re- 
placed and the tooth segment reset. Then more teeth are 
rammed, and so on until the circle is completed. 

To form the top shrouding on the wheel, the sweep If is 
secured to the spindle and a solid hard bed is swejDt up, as 



IMPROTEMEXT IX MOULDIXG GEAR ^VHEELS, ETC. 53 

shown at A. The outside edge, -i, could be formed by 
having wooden segment pieces laid all around, if so desired, 
although this is seldom done. After this bed is finished, the 
cope is set on and rammed up, and being well staked, is 
then lifted off. A hole the right diameter and depth is 
then dug out, the bottom bed swept up, and the teeth and 
lower shrouding formed as described. After this, green or 
dry sand cores are set in to form the arms and hub, and the 
cope is closed on, having the stakes as shown at V for a guide. 

Mr. J. F. Holloway, the president of the Cuyahoga Works 
has designed a spindle for such class of sweeping, that will 
not shake or turn over from the weight of a heavy sweep. 
The spindle is made of a heavy tube from 2'' to 4'' diameter. 
The outside is trued up and the ends faced off. The spindle 
seat, TT, is bored out straight so as to be a good fit, and the 
hollow spindle is set into it. At the bottom of the spindle 
seat there is a | or f hole bored, and a thread tapped in it, 
and when the spindle is set in, a turned washer, having a 
projection set down into the spindle, is placed as shown at B. 
Then the long- bolt, havinaf a head on one end and a thread 
on the other, is set in and screwed down tight. By this 
means a spindle from six to eight feet long can he held as 
firmly as if there was an arm or brace attached to the top of 
the spindle, as is generally done with spindles that have 
heavy sweeps attached to them. 

The next improvement, and one that is worthy of note, 
is Mr. Swift's (the foreman of the works) rigging for 
moulding double-armed pulleys, entirely of green sand. The 
cut represents the lower arm as being moulded. The draw rim 
pattern has been drawn and the core hoisted up. The arm 
and hub pattern is then drawn, and the core lowered down 
into place. The draw pattern is then set back, and the iron 
or wooden wedges, Xos. 2. 3, 4, 5, 6, T, are withdrawn. The 
top lifting plate is then hoisted off, the loose anchor plates 



54 GREEIf SAKD MOULDING. 

remaining down, after which the upper arm and balance of 
the pulley is rammed up in the ordinary way. Instead of 
hoisting these cores with a chain, as shown, there is a three- 
winged cross used. 

The cut D shows a plan of the lifting plate haying one of the 
loose anchor plates wedged up to it. I think that the advan- 
tage of this rigging can be seen without further description. 

The next and lower cut shows the manner of moulding 
some large pulleys, which were cast in segments and bolted 
together. When these pulleys were completed, they were 
found so true that they were only ground on the face by 
using a stone susjoendcd by a rope. 

In moulding these segments there was a full pattern used, 
but the outside face of the castings was formed by using an 
iron casing, well filled with vent holes. On the casing there 
was about 1" thickness of loam swept, the process being 
shown at M. While this is being dried in the oven, the 
inside, arms and hub, of the casting is moulded in green 
sand, as shown, the top of the pulley being kept about even 
with the level of the floor. After the lower half of the seg- 
ment is rammed up and the joint at the center of the arm 
made, the iron cope is set on, rammed up and staked. The 
screws or bolts that are for holding the arm and face pattern 
together are then loosened, and the face pattern drawn back. 
After this the cope is hoisted oif and the arm pattern drawn, 
and this part of the mould finished. The cope is then 
lowered down to place, the face pattern set back, and the 
balance of the mould rammed up. The face pattern is again 
drawn back, and this inside part of the mould finished, 
when the casing is taken out of the oven, lowered down, as 
shown at P, and, after it is pushed up against joints and 
T, sand is rammed u^ at the back of it to the level of the 
floor. Covering cores, S, are then set on, and the mould 
weighted down ready for pouring. 



IMPROVEMEN-T IN" MOULDINCt GEAR WHEELS, ETC. 55 , 




Double armed Pulley 




DEVICE FOR MOULDING PULLEYS. 



56 



GREEN SAI^D MOULDING. 



VENTING GREEN SAND MOULDS. 



Venting a mould with a vent wire is done to allow the free 
escape of air and gases in the sand, together with the steam 
generated by the liquid iron coming into contact with damp 
sand. New sand will not stand ramming as hard, and needs 
more venting than old sand, by reason of the additional 
life and gases in it. Sand mixed with sea coal or minerals 
needs still more venting because of the increased gases. 
Were it not to provide for the escape of these gases, air, and 
steam, moulds could be rammed as hard as iron, and have 
no blowing or scabs. The bottom j)art of a mould requires 
the most venting, because it is the part which takes the 
longest time to be covered with a body of iron, and when 
covered, is surrounded mostly by the iron. 

Plain copes are vented more to allow for the easy escape of 
the air confined in the mould, than for the escape of gases 
or steam in the cope sand. Plain coped work, poured with 
hot iron, requires less venting than if it were poured with 
chill iron, as the hot iron has life enough to force the air up 
through the pores of the sand. If the iron were dull, 
the compressed air at some spots, not finding as ready 
relief, would hold back the iron, and by the time the press- 
ure (or the air) escaped, the iron would l)e frozen, so that 
when the casting came out, it Avould show smooth, flat 
hollows in the cope part. 

There is very little difference in venting plain copes for 
heavy or light casting, as regards the closeness of the vents. 
Light work should be vented to the surface of the mould, so 



VENTING GREEN SAND MOULDS. 67 

as to allow the air to escape rapidly, wliile heavy work that 
requires a pressure of air to keep the cope from being drawn 
down, should be vented one to three inches from the surface. 
Copes having any pockets, flanges, or projections in them, 
require such places to be well vented. Moulds poured veiy 
fast require the same treatment. 

I shall never forget an incident that occurred in a shop 
where I was working some sixteen years ago. It was before 
I had made up my mind to study cause and effect in 
foundry work. A moulder, doing some of the best work in 
Uie shop, was making a plain cylinder flatwise ; it was about 
two feet in diameter by three feet long. He had a full split 
pattern with which to mould the outside ; while for the in- 
side the core was made on a wooden core barrel, full of 
small vent holes, with nails driven into it to iiold the sand. 
The core barrel had iron trunnions on the ends, which 
rested on iron horses, extending out so as to hold the sweep- 
ing board. The sand was packed with the hands in the 
barrel, and the sweep made the required diameter. The first 
two or three castings that he made were lost, on account of 
the top portion of the core lifting up off the barrel. The 
man did everything he could think of to save them, using 
longer nails, making his sand tougher, and using very thick 
clay-wash. Above everything, he gave great attention to 
having the vent fired while pouring. In making the next 
casting, through some excitement, the vent was not fired 
until the mould was full. This casting, to the astonishment 
of us all, was a good casting. The cause of the ^^revious 
trouble had been in firing the vent before the mould 
was full, causing an explosion which burst the core. 

There are moulds that require a bed of cinders under them, 

and it is as essential to know at what time the vents should be 

fired as it is to know how to vent the mould. Take the case 

of a mould having projections, green sand core, or any por- 

3* 



58 GREEN" SAND MOULDING. 

tion that the iron does not cover for some time when first 
going into the mould, it is here sometimes best not to have 
the vent pipes lighted until the mould is full of iron, and for 
such classes of moulds pipes of a large diameter are better, 
and at least two pipes should be connected with a cinder bed, 
since by so doing the danger of the vent exploding is avoided. 
Two outlets will also cause a freer circulation of air, and in 
so dangerous a class of moulds, the vent pipe should be 
located where there will be no danger of flying sparks of iron 
entering them while the mould is being poured. When the 
vent explodes before all the bottom surface of a mould 
is covered with iron, the pressure of air and foul gas created 
finds relief with a sudden force, and presses itself into 
all openings and available space, so if all the bottom 
surface of the mould be not covered, such explosion will 
drive the air and foul gases through the vent holes, and 
be likely to lift or start any portion of the mould that 
may not be covered with iron ; the result of this would give 
a scabbed casting, or would start a mould to blow. When- 
ever vent pipes are lighted for an ordinary line of casting, 
they should be lighted at the top of the pipes, for by so 
doing the current of explosive gases is drawn from under the 
mould to the 2:>ure atmospliere, where they can escape and 
burn freely; and if these gases cannot be drawn to the top by 
burning shavings at one side of the top of the pipes, it 
is best not to fire at the bottom of the pipes, but wait until 
the mould is full of iron. A good supply of vent wires of all 
sizes is needed by every foundrv, since their liberal use has 
saved many a casting that would otherwise have been lost 
through hard ramming, or wet or inferior sand. 



MOULDING KETTLES. 



59 



MOULDING KETTLES WITH A DEY SAND COPE 
AND GREEN SAND BOTTOM. 

Ordikary kettles are usually made in loam, haying the 
bottom cast up. The engraving shows a plan of casting the 
bottom down, which will make a sounder kettle, that will 
last longer than one cast with the bottom up. The size of 
this kettle was about six feet diameter and three feet deep. 
The outside was swept in the floor with green sand, and the 
inside was made in dry sand, swept up on the carriage and 
dried. The cope was made in two sections, and bolted to- 
gether as shown. The reason for doing this was, that the 










i::s;j:isi.::.j:UL:j 



prickers were too long to drive and make a good plate ; also, 
the ring X, formed of two pully patterns, made a stiffer 
plate than one cast flat. 



60 GREEI^ SAND MOULDING. 

In getting up tliis rigging there are two improvements I 
made, and found them to be of value. The first was the 
mode of turning the cope over ; and the second, a j)lan for 
closing the cope down true on the bottom. 

Instead of sweeping a face or seat on the bottom and a 
corresponding one on the cope, to fit into it, as is usually 
done for such work, and which is shown at B, I had a hole 
cast in the center of the plate, one-quarter of an inch larger 
than the size of spindle, and leaving the spindle in its seat 
H^ the cope was lowered down over it, and when within an 
inch or so of being down to its place, we saw that the space 
between the joints was alike all around. Just before the 
two joints touched each other, we saw that the spindle was 
in the center, as shown at D and P. In doing the job this 
way, if the spindle is in the center of the hole when the cope 
is swept up, you can rely on the casting having an equal 
thickness all around. After the cope is lowered to its place, 
drive down some stakes at tlie four handles, take out the 
spindle, hoist off the cope, and fill up the spindle hole with 
green sand. Then lower down the cope the second time, 
using the stakes for a guide. 

This plan saves work in sweeping out seats or guide faces, 
which usually takes a deal of time, and when done are not 
reliable, especially in large loam work, as the expansion of 
the plates when heated in the oven will crack and displace 
the brick-work more or less, causing the seat to be out of 
true. 

In sweeping up the cope, coke and cinders were put in 
around the prickers, so as to leave about ten inches of sand 
on top of it. At the joint where the short prickers are, fine 
cinders were used. 

The dry sand used for sweeping up the cope was made 
very open, as close sand will not make so smooth an inside. 
As the casting was only 1" thick, after the form was roughly 



MOULDING KETTLES. 



61 



swept, some gaggers were driven into it, so as to hold the face 
of the mould from dropping, should it get jarred or cracked 
when being rolled over. 

The rigging generally used for rolling over such copes as 
this is sliown at 2, 3, and 4. Tlie trunnions 2 and 3 should 
be cast below the level of the plate, to balance the weight of 
the sand and plate, and when turning throw a rope over the 




lifting beam, and hitch on the handle 4. In this way the 
plate can be let go over easier than if left to turn, on the trun- 
nions alone. 

When there is a heavy body of sand, or when the plate 
is large in diameter, the following plan is the best : Hitch 
the chains into the handles, 7 and 8, and let the foot, 
K, which has a wooden roller bolted to it, rest on a strong 
plate or block of wood. Then, as the crane is hoisted, the 



62 GREEK SAND MOULDING. 

roller will cause the plate to turn over with ease and steadi- 
ness. Should there be any fear of a jump wlien tlie plate is , 
on the balance, put some blocks under the foot K to catch 
it ; also have some men with long sticks to reach the top 
handles to steady it over. 

AVhy I give the preference to this plan for turning over 
plates is, that the plate is resting on three bearings, which will 
spring it less than when it is turned over with two bearings, 
as when rolled over on two trunnions. 

In sweeping or moulding the bottom in the floor, a coke 
bed was laid under to carry the vents, and the sides were 
swept up first, a space being kept open around the bot- 
tom for the moulder to stand, and for the sand to fall into. 
When the sides were finished the bottom part was swept up, 
and the casting gated as shown. For a pattern two sweeps 
were made, one for the bottom and one for the cope. The 
cope plate was cast 2" thick, with plenty of vent holes in it. 



DROPPING OF GREEN SAND COPES. 63 



DROPPING OF GPEEN SAND COPES. 

The expression '^dropped," or ^^ fell," made use of in a 
foundry, will turn every moulder's eyes in the direction in- 
dicated. Even if he is drawing a fine tooth gear wheel, ten 
chances to one he will give a squint to see who is the victim, 
if it knocks down every tooth to do it. Why it is that this 
is the case, is only known to moulders. There is nothing 
that will cause the countenance of a moulder to change, and 
that will make him look as if he had lost his last friend, so 
quickly, as to have all, or a portion of the cope of a mould 
which he has been working on for a day, or perhaps two or 
three days, drop out when he is closing his mould. 

If the cope is closed by hand, this may be caused by not 
lifting it level and steadily ; or if hoisted with a crane, the 
chain may jump. One or the other of these is about the 
only excuse a moulder can make for such an accident. 

The foolish manner in which some moulders will gagger 
copes will cause them to drop quicker than if they had never 
put a gagger in them. 

Not long ago, an old moulder was ramming up a cope that 
had fallen out witli him, and going to see what was the mat- 
ter, I asked him what made it drop. His only answer was, 
'^ It fell out." I told him, by the looks of things, there was 
no question about that part of it, and seeing by the manner 
in which he was gaggering up his cope, he did not know 
what the trouble was, I asked him if he knew what he set 
gaggers in a cope for ? He answered, ^^To hold the sand 
up." Taking a gagger and setting it in, I asked him which 



64 GREEN SAN^D MOULDING. 

he thought was the heayiest, the iron gagger or a piece of 
sand of the same dimensions ? Well, he thought the gagger 
was. 

I then asked him what cross bars were put in a cope for, 
at which point I saw he was getting indifferent, and told him 
I was speaking for his benefit, and still insisted on the ques- 
tion. He answered, " To hold in the sand." Haying still 
hold of the gagger with my hand (for if I let go it would fall 
down), I asked him to give me the longest gagger he had in 
his i^ile, which, when set in, did not come up 2" between the 
bars that were cut out ; and seeing tlie questions had an- 
swered my purpose, I walked away from a man who was evi- 
dently wondering why he did not think of these simple ques- 
tions before. • 

Copes dropping from just such causes are every-day occur- 
rences with moulders who have worked a life-time at the 
trade. 

In ramming up copes that have the bars cut out so as to re- 
quire gaggers, or should there be a body of sand to be lifted 
with gaggers, the moulder should remember that iron gag- 
gers are heavier than sand, and if he wants to lift a body of 
saud with them, the gaggers should be long enough to have 
two-thirds of their length up between bars, as it is the 
sand rammed between the bars that holds the gaggers, and 
it is the gaggers that lifts the hanging sand below the face of 
the bars, in some cases. When there is over two inches of 
sand to be lifted, there should be, to assist the gaggers, some 
wooden sticks, or "soldiers," as they are usually called — a 
name that must have been derived from the resemblance of 
the sticks, when in position against the bars, to a company 
or regiment of men in line. 

I once came near getting struck by a green German heli)er 
because I told him to go to the pattern shop and get some 
wooden soldiers. He looked at me, and wanted to knoAv if I 



DEOPPING OE GREEK SAND COPES. 65 

thought he was a fool, and to make matters worse, several 
men working near were laughing at him. Before I could 
get the soldiers, I had to go for them myself. 

In using soldiers, they should not have too large a sur- 
face on the end that comes next to the pattern, for when 
this is the case, the sand is liable to drop, or be drawn down 
from them and cause the casting to blow. 

When using soldiers for making heavy castings, the gaggers 
should be set first, and then a good inch of sand put over them 
before setting the soldiers. When set in this way they can be 
used larger, which will make them of more service. If there 
is a heavy body of sand to be lifted, the soldiers can be nailed 
to the cross bars. AVooden soldiers will lift a heavy body of 
sand better than iron gaggers, which can be proved by try- 
ing to pull one of each out. 

When soldiers are used over the surface of light castings, 
tlieir end surface should not be over |^' square, and they 
should have a good V' of sand under them. The space be- 
tween wooden or iron bars has a great deal to do with the 
amount of hanging sand a cope will lift. 

Copes that are made for jobbing castings should not have 
the bars over six inches apart, and the bars should be at least 7" 
deep, so that they will stand to be cut out and still leave 
width enough to be gaggered. 

Copes that are made for special patterns, if the castings 
are light, can have nails driven into the chamfered edge of 
the bars if necessary, doing away with the use of gaggers or 
soldiers for lifting or carrying the sand. For plain, ordinary 
light castings, if the bars are clay-washed and not over J" 
from the face of the pattern, there is little danger, if the 
sand is in good condition and rammed as it should be. 

If the sand is burned much, and the moulder is not al- 
lowed to put in new sand enough to renew it, he will have 
to gagger it more, and should select the thinnest and light- 



66 GREEK SAND MOULDING. 

est of gaggers. He will also have to ram liis mould harder, 
to keep the sand from dro2)ping out of the coj)e. 

There are moulders working on good work who will make 
casting after casting without a hole caused by the coj^e 
dropping after it is closed, while others cannot make over 
two or three castings without trouble of this sort, for which 
they always have an excuse. 

The way some moulders ram up a flask will be cause 
enough for all their trouble. They will have some 8" of sand 
in the cope for the first ramming, making no difference when 
there are flanges, pockets, or anything else to ram over or 
around, giving every piece the same treatment with a heavy 
rammer. For the second ramming they will have only 3" or 
4" of sand to ram through, over which they will spend as 
much time as they did ramming the first course of 7' or 8". 
For a finish, they will go over the top in a loose, careless man- 
ner, and then vent it. This may be a quick way of ramming 
up a cope, but it is far from being a reliable way. 

In ramming jilain copes, from 4'^ to 5" of sand is plenty for 
the first ramming, and which should be even and solid. 
For the second ramming you can put in 7" or 8", and go over 
it in half the time. Then, with a butt rammer, make the 
top solid, for it is the butting that will make the sand com- 
pact between the bars, so as to hold the gaggers or soldiers 
in a firm manner. In this way you can depend on having a 
good lift, and the sand will stay where it belongs. 

When there are pockets, flanges, or projections to be 
rammed over,- a light hand rammer should be used so as to 
ram in and around them evenly, and not get the sand so 
hard as to cause blowing, but still solid enough to hold the 
sand from dropping. Should the pattern be so constructed 
as to require a deep cope, the same treatment and precau- 
tion should be used so far as droj^ping is concerned. 



MOULDING KETTLES WITHOUT A PATTERJs". 67 



MOULDING KETTLES IN GREEN SAND WITH- 
OUT A PATTERN. 

DiFFEREN^T stjles of kettles require an entire change in 
the manner of moulding them. In some foundries, where 
they have a standing order for a special-shaped kettle, they 
have good patterns and other arrangements for making or 
sweeping them u]) in loam. In making kettles of almost 
any form, there has 
to be more riggiiig- 
up and expense in- 
curred than in mak- 
ing ordinary cast- 
ings. Loam jobbing 
castings are worth 
more than green sand 
ones, on account of 
the extra labor, time, 
and fuel ; and in a 
great many instances 
they are made in 
loam simply to save 
the cost of patterns. 
One reason why so many kettles are swej)t up in loam is the 
expense of a full set of patterns. Notwithstanding this, 
however, a set of patterns is sometimes made for a single 
casting. 

The engravmg represents a plan employed in making a 
kettle which was wanted in a hurry. Instead of sweeping 




68 GREEN" SAND MOULDING. 

it up in loam, it was swej^t up in green sand. The only rig- 
ging needed was the lifting frame X, which was made of 
pulley rings and a few pieces of wood for the bars H, H. 
The holes, Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 5, are for bolting the frame up 
to the cope, as shown at T. The size of this kettle was 
7 feet 2 inches at tlie top, and about 6 feet at the bottom, 
the thickness of wiiich was 2'. The sides tapered in thick- 
ness from 1\" up to 1", the depth of the kettle being 24". 
The casting was poured with tw^o gates, 4|" wide and 1\" 
thick, as shown at W. 

Tlie cuts P and 0, show the wooden sweeps laid against 
the spindle for sweeping the outside and inside of the 
casting. 

In starting to mould a casting like this, it is necessary to 
have a coke or cinder bed under the mould. At B is shown 
a seat for holding the spindle. When the spindle is in place 
and the sweep P fastened to it, sweep up the shape of the 
inside as shown at D, and, instead of shaking on wet j^artmg 
sand to make a jomt, it is best to fasten paper on the side 
with small nails. Before setting the lifting frame, there should 
be three thin flat j^lates, about 6" square, set on the bottom 
to keep the frame from sinking into the face of the mould. 

After the frame is rammed up, set in the four bolts. These 
bolts are better to have a nut on each end, which makes 
them more solid than having a hook on the lower end ; as 
when the weight of the core comes on the hook it is liable to 
yield and crack the core. The top of the bolt above the nut 
should be squared for a wrench, to hold them from turning 
around while scrcAving up the nut. 

At Jf is shown one of the four bars of iron resting on the 
top of the frame and wedged under the wrought iron bar. 
This makes it certain that the melted iron will not raise up 
the core, as is often the case. As it is, should the core rise, 
it would have to lift up all the holding-down rigging. 



MOULDIl^G KETTLES WITHOUT A PATTERN. 



69 








70 GREEN SAND MOULDING, 

When the core or inside is rammed np level with the joint 
or top of the kettle, then set on the cope, and after it is 
staked, rammed up, and vented, lay on four rails or bars for 
bolting the core up to the cojDe, as shown at T. Two of 
these rails are jilaeed side by side, so as to carry the weight 
of two bolts. These bars must have their bearing on the 
sides of the flask, and be raised up high enough to clear the 
wooden cross bars. 

Before screwing down the nuts, place some heavy weights 
on the rails, say as much weight as will bend down the bars 
equal to what the weight of the core would bend them ; 
and, while the w^eights are on, screw down the nuts solid, 
after which the weights can be taken off. Then wedge be- 
tween the upright bar M, and the lifting bar, and also all 
the wooden cross bars. Bolt up any heavy core or body of 
sand this way, and you can depend on there being no cracks 
or openings in it. 

After the cope is lifted off, set back the spindle, fasten on 
the sweep 0, and dig out about 4" of sand all around the 
sides and bottom. This will leave room enough for packing 
sand, and sweeping it out tlie shape of the outside of the 
kettle, as shown at R. Kettles 12 feet or more in diameter 
can be made in green sand after this plan, provided the 
building and crane are strong enough to lift the cope. The 
casting will be as sound and solid as one made in loam — if 
anything, better ; as in moulding kettles of this style in 
loam, the bottom is usually cast up, while this one is cast 
down, which will always make a sounder bottom. 



MOULDING PIPES WITHOUT A PATTERN. 71 



MOULDING ELBOW AND BRANCH PIPES 
WITHOUT A PATTERN. 

There are often cases where a party wants a special piece of 
pipe in a Imrry, for which he is unable to find a pattern. 
Almost any shaped pipe can be made, at very little expense 
for pattern-making, by a little extra work in the foundry. 
Let a clear sketch of the pipe as wanted be given to the 
pattern-maker, from wliich he will make a j^late pattern l.J 
inches wider than the outside diameter of pipe, the extra 
width forming a bearing for the sweeps, X, which are to form 
the core and thickness of pipe. This pattern should liave 
pieces nailed on where the flanges are wanted, as shown at B,B, 
and an extension of five or six inches beyond all flanges for a 
core print. From this pattern cast two open sand plates. 
These cannot be counted as involving extra exj^ense, since 
they would have to be made if the core was rammed in a 
regular core box. When all is ready, ram the core sand a little 
larger than the size of core wanted, and take the smallest 
sweep and strike off the core, following the shape of the plate 
when possible, and when not, as ati), use the trowel. When 
the core has been gone roughly over, sprinkle it witli water, 
and sift on core sand, using a fine sieve. After this has been 
packed evenly by the hands, it should be gone over evenly 
and steadily with the sweep and the core slicked and finished. 

The sweeps should be made j\ inch to i inch larger 
than the size required, as the slicking will make the cores 
smaller. 



72 GKEEN" SAND 310ULDING. 

In the bottom half of core put some nails, letting them 
stand out as far as possible, and have tlie thickness sweep 
clear them. These nails will help to hold the thickness on 
when the core is turned over. The top half of core will not 
need any. After the core is dried, wherever metal is wanted, 
rub on loam, or other mixture, that will sweep w^ell and bake 
hard, and strike off with sweep to size. Have as many 
flanges as there are to be on the pij^e, turned up and cut in 
halves ; and, to make sure of setting their faces true, it is 
better to have a strip of wood fastened to them, as shown 
at A, and when setting the flanges (before sweeping the 
thickness) drive a few nails through this strip and into the 
core. 

The loam swept on for thickness of metal will require 
drying, unless the core is very hot. In using this core as a 
substitute for a patterji, dig a hole in the floor (that is, if 
you cannot get a flask to suit), bed the bottom core, set on 
the top half, and rub down the prints, or put sand between 
them, till they caliper round. The top half of the core 
should have hooks, so as to lift it up with the cope. When 
the cores are drawn knock off the thickness, paste the 
halves together, and let them dry while finishing the 
mould. 

If the pipe is to be one inch or more in thickness, another 
plan would be to saw out a number of half-circle pieces, as 
shown at H, place them over the cores, 4 inches or 5 inches 
apart, and when rammed and the cores drawn, cut out the 
sand between them. This Avould save sweeiung the thick- 
ness on the core, and in some cases might be the cheapest 
and the best plan. 

Ordinary size pipe, when time cannot be spared to 
cast' plates, may be swept up on a wooden plate made 
the shape wanted, and having the flanges nailed to it 
to keep them in place. Sometimes, when three or four 



MOULDIN^G PIPES WITHOUT A PATTERN". 



73 



■k-8K-4 

J L 




74 GREEN" SAND MOULDING. 

castings are wanted, and it is not undesirable to make a 
wooden pattern, it is best to make a core expressly for use 
as a pattern, not sweeping on a thickness, and when the 
castings are all made, the core can be broken up and the 
sand used again. 



RAMMIKG UP THE TEETH OF GEAR WHEELS. 75 



RAMMING UP THE TEETH OF GEAR 
WHEELS IN GREEN SAND. 

There is, perhaps, nothing requires more careful and even 
ramming than the teeth of gear wheels. The sides of almost 
any casting can be swelled without attracting attention, but 
if the face or sides of teeth are swelled, it will appear at 
once. In some shops great attention is paid to having each 
tooth the right size, and in some instances every tooth is 
tried with calij^ers to detect swelling. Moulders will some- 
times make the teeth of wheels exactly the size of the 
pattern, while others will be from -Jg-" up to yV' larger than 
the pattern. Teeth can be larger than the pattern and yet 
show no signs of strains or swelling, even if the moulder has 
been very particular in ramming, for if he did not ram 
solid, being afraid, perhaps, the teeth would not draw well, 
would be scabbed if rammed solid, or perhaps from his 
established practice of light ramming, it is sure to occur. It 
may sound odd, but there are few moulders that ram alike. 
One will ram heavier or lighter than another, and their 
castings apparently show no difference, but if they are tested 
with calipers and straight-edges, or weighed, then it is easy 
to see who rams the hardest. It sometimes is a good thing 
to be accustomed to ram hard. But for general jobbing 
work the moulder accustomed to ramming lightly will have 
the fewest bad" castings. 

Some moulders can ram a mould light or heavy as they 



76 GKEEK SAKD MOULDING. 

choose/out they are few. In ramming up small spur teeth from 
2" pitch down, the hands only should be used; some moulders 
will ;;res5 the sand in, while others throw it in, and raise an 
inch or two every time. It would be a hard matter to de- 
cide which is the best plan, since the moulder who pressed 
the sand in, if told to throw it in, would probably make the 
teeth swelled, because he is not used to making small-teethed 
wheels in this way. In making very small-teethed wheels, 
where there is difficulty of getting the sand to stand, it is a 
good thing to use some new dried moulding sand, and after 
it is screened very fine, dampen it with some beer or water, 
and then, with a wooden or iron roller, roll it back and for- 
ward over the sand, until it is well mixed ; this will make the 
sand tough and give a good body to it. 

Teeth from 2" pitch up are generally made by throwing 
in 2" or 3" of sand, and then, after the outside is rammed, use 
a rod or small pin rammer to ram in between the teeth. 
The larger the pitch the more solid should the ramming be 
made ; the bottom, or first course of ramming, should be 
rammed the most solid. When ramming sand between teeth 
there should not be over 3" for a ramming, and it should be 
rammed even, and as firm as the sand will allow. Before 
thi'owing in sand for another course of ramming, the loose 
sand should be all scraped away, and any soft sand pressed 
down by using the fingers ; this will help to avoid soft spots 
between the course of ramming. Teeth that are rammed 
solid should be well vented ; facing sand should be used 
stronirerfor the root and sides than for the face of the teeth. 
A plan that works well in making nice-looking teeth, is to 
use as strong a facing sand as the wheel will stand between 
the teeth, and then for the face of the teeth use nothing but 
fine-screened common heap sand ; this common sand on the 
face of the teeth will allow the pouring of the wheel with 
duller iron, and still retain a sharp face or corners. When 



RAMMIKG UP THE TEETH OF GEAR WHEELS. 77 

the wheel is cleaned, the inside of the teeth will peel, and by 
rubbing coke or a piece of grindstone over the teeth's face, 
it will result in fine-looking teeth. About the most difficult 
class of wheels to make are bevel gear wheels, since, wheii 
bedded in, there is no chance to ram the teeth, as may be 
done when ramming spur wheels ; sometimes in large bevel 
wheels having small pitch it is possible, after a bed is made, 
to lift out the pattern and turn it over, so as to bring the 
face up, then fill and press the teeth full of sand, then by 
handling the pattern gently roll it over on to its bed, and pound 
it down. This plan works very well when the teeth are 
small enough to hold in the sand when the pattern is turned 
over, bat for patterns that cannot be thus managed, the 
moulder will have to ram up the teeth by having a bed made 
the shape of the bevel of the pattern, from 2" to 4,'^ below the 
face of the teeth, this space affording a good opportunity to 
ram, and enabling the moulder to get his hand underneath. 
Ramming uj:) of teeth has to be done more by the sense of 
feeling than seeing ; in this the moulder must rely on his 
own mechanical ability as to the amount of hardness that 
teeth will stand in being rammed. The harder that sand 
will stand ramming, without danger of scabbing or not 
drawing, coupled with even ramming and good venting, the 
better-shaped teeth will be produced on a casting. 



78 GREEK SAND MOULDING. 



CASTING LAKGE PIPES IN GREEN SAND. 

The plan here described and shown for moulding large 
pii:)es or work of a similar nature, involves small expense, 
being in that respect far cheaper than loam moulds, espe- 
cially when the oven is not large enough to dry the moulds, 
and they have to be dried on the floor. The foundry that 
made these pipes had an order for about a dozen, and they 
were wanted in a hurry. The pipes weighed about 5,000 
pounds each. Their diameter was nine feet, and their height 
five feet, and the thickness of metal one inch. There was a 
flauge at the top and bottom by which to bolt them together. 
Elbow pipes that went with the plain ones were cast in 
loam, and, having worked on both jobs, I will give a de- 
scription of how these were made when I get to loam work. 
In making the plain pipes there was a sheet-iron curb sunk 
into the floor to prevent straining, and to save work in dig- 
ging and ramming. The draw pattern was made of wood, 
and Avas 18" deep, with four strong draw irons on it. In 
starting to mould it, a cast iron ring, XX, is set level, from 
which a level bed is made. This ring is never disturbed, so 
that the leveling by straight edges every time a casting is 
made is avoided. When the bed is finished, the draw pat- 
tern is set down, and cores having the bottom flange formed 
in them, as shown at A, A, are set around the pattern. 
There are two of these cores that the runner cores arc 
attached to, as shown at B. These were set a quarter of a 
circle apart, and when all the cores were set, any open joints 
were packed with hemp, so as to keep dust or dirt from get- 



CASTING LARGE PIPES IK GREEN SAND. 



79 



' ' ' '--)- -• — '- — - — f. ... ' .. ■ I" '^ ^ 




• • ■;::- - I.C--_-^'';^,-J-^-"->-^^.N:V.s~;~-^-^ V'x,-~-'^-:~•-'^--V-■ 






80 GREEIS^ SAND MOULDING. 

ting to the flange. The facing and sand was shoveled in and 
rammed solid up to the level of the pattern, and then well 
vented. When all was ready, a man was placed at each 
screw-handle. The cut only shows two screws and one 
beam ; hut as there are four draw irons needed, it takes four 
screws and two beams. At the word '^Around ! " each man 
turns his handle around once, doing this at every command. 
In this way the pattern is drawn even. This is a splendid 
rigging for drawing gears or anything that needs to be drawn 
level and steady. This pattern was drawn about five inches 
at a time, until.it was raised up level with the top of the 
curb, which made it the height required. The pattern was 
leveled at every drawing, and the vents carried up to the top 
by venting at every raising. After the cope was rammed up 
and taken off, the segment D was bedded all around the 
pattern to form the top flange. The upright runners were 
rammed up in the green sand, and had a core placed at the 
bottom to prevent any cutting. The ramming was light 
towards the top, so that the iron would lie quiet, and to 
prevent any straining of the bottom portion, it was rammed 
more solid. 



MAKING AND VENTING BEDS. 81 



MAKING AND VENTING BEDS. 

There are two classes of beds — one is the open sand bed, 
and the other is a covered bed. When a bed is covered with 
a cope, it can be made harder than a bed without a cope, 
since, when iron is poured on to a covered bed, the air in 
the mould is more or less compressed, and this pressure 
causes the retention of the gases, steam, and air, and forces 
them to find relief by passing downwards into the sand be- 
low the face of the mould ; and the harder this underlying 
sand is rammed, the more pressure will be required to drive 
the gases and steam downwards. When the sand below the 
face of the bed is rammed too hard, so that the gases cannot 
be forced downwards, they will, when the pressure becomes 
strong enough, pass up through the surface sand of the bed 
and through the liquid iron in the mould as an air-bubble 
passes up through water. Whenever gases, air, or steam 
have to pass through the surface of a bed in order to find 
relief, there will result scabbed castings. The vent wire is 
used to make a proper channel for the escape of the gases, 
air, and steam. The vent wire in some cases, when not 
used understandingly, is more hurtful than beneficial. For 
example, if a moulder venting a bed directly from the face 
surface of a mould, and, to keep the iron from getting into 
the vents, only rubs the palm of his hand over them, the 
holes seem to be all stopped up; but when the castings come 
out of the sand, the core boys appear, picking up cast-iron 

vent wires to make core rods of, and a scabbed casting is 
4* 



82 GREEN SAND MOULDING. 

the result, caused by the hot iron bursting through the 
thinly-covered vent holes, and causing them to be all filled 
with iron ; thus, instead of the vent holes carrying off the 
vent from the surface of the mould, they not only create more 
gas at the surface of the mould, but also in the interior, 
or deeper portion of the sand. Beds thus vented would be 
more likely to produce a good, smooth-skinned casting if 
they never had a vent wire used on them. A covered bed 
generally requires to be vented, since this class of beds, if 
made as soft as open sand beds, will sink from the pressure 
or strain of the iron, when the mould became full, upon the 
bottom bed, and thus make the casting a deal thicker than 
it should be. A good example, showing the results of having 
too soft a bed, is the case of making thin fire fronts, that 
had a large semicircular flue-cleaning door-hole, two firing 
door-holes, and two ash-pit door-holes in them. Around 
the outside edge of these fronts there was a heavy orna- 
mental border, and around all of the door-holes there were 
chipping strips and also lugs for hanging the doors on. The 
thickness of these fronts varied from three-eighths of an inch 
to three-quarters of an inch, the outside measurements vary- 
ing from three feet by five feet to nine feet by thirteen feet. 
When these fronts were fitted up, there was much complaint 
because the fronts were swelled all over the surface and 
crooked, occupying a machinist from five to fifteen hours 
longer to fit up a front tlian would have resulted if the 
fronts had been made right. Since there were so many lugs, 
core prints, and chipping pieces on the fronts, the moulders 
seemed to think the only way to make a bed to mould them 
on, was as follows : Straight edges would be leveled up, 
and a bed the full size of the front made. This bed 
would consist of all loose, soft sand, running from 6" up 
to 12" deep, and leveled off. On the top of this soft bed 
tlie pattern would be placed, and then, with a sledge- 



MAKING AND VENTING BEDS. 83 

hammer and a block of wood, the lugs, border, chipping 
pieces, and the whole thickness of the pattern would be 
knocked down into the soft bed. It was a quick way of 
bedding in the pattern, but when the casting came out it 
was a botched job — a disgrace to the moulders that made it. 
The face, in may places, would be covered with scabs, and 
the casting would be from one-eiglith of an inch up to half 
an inch thicker in some places than others, and by no means 
straight. This style of sledge-hammering down a pattern, 
and the making a bed, is one that should very seldom be 
adopted, as it causes the bed of a mould to be the reverse of 
what it should be. Since the surface of a mould should 
be the softest, in order to have the iron lie quietly against 
it, and to prevent any strains or swells, the under portion of 
the sand should be firmly rammed. In the above case, the 
hardest rammed sand formed the surface of the mould, and 
the soft sand was underneath. To properly make a bed for 
this class of work, so as to prevent any straining and swell- 
ing, and have a casting as it should be, the following plan 
can be relied upon : After the straight edges are leveled, 
dig out below the level of the straight edges about 5" 
of sand, and then, witli a butt rammer, go all over the sur- 
face ; after which fill up with good riddled or mixed sand, 
till even with the top of the straight edges, tiien butt-ram 
this down also. This will make a solid bed of sand within 
about one and a half inches of the top of the straight 
edges. Before going any higher with sand, take J" dia- 
meter vent wire, and vent the bed all over, after whicli, 
with the flat of the hands, close u}) the tops of the vent 
holes, and then fill up and level the sand with the top of the 
straight edges; after which, if facing sand is to be used upon 
the face of tlie mould, or common heap sand, it is tlie proper 
time to distribute it over tlie bed ; then, with some pieces 
of wood or iron, three-eighths of an inch in thickness, laid 



84 GREEN SAND MOULDING. 

upon the leveled straight edges, level this heap or facing 
smootli and even. There will now be a level bed of 
sand f " above the top of the straight edges ; then, after 
removing the 8 inch tliickness pieces from under the 
l)arallel or strike straight edge, rap down this raised 
sand, so as to be even with the top of the straight 
edges. This will comi)lete the making of the bed ; the 
fire front pattern is now set on the bed, and the impres- 
sion of the lugs made, the outside corners of the pattern 
being staked, and the pattern is then lifted olf, and holes, 
about two inches deeper and wider than the lugs, are dug 
out of the bed, and all filled up again with soft sand. The 
cope surface of the pattern is shown by chalk marks over 
all the lugs, core prints, and chipping pieces, and the pat- 
tern is now set back upon the bed, and all the projections 
pressed or hammered down, the chalk marks being a guide 
to show what portion of the pattern requires knocking, the 
bed having only been made the size of the pattern inside of 
border, which runs all around the outside edge. This is 
then tucked up with facing sand, the joint is now rammed 
up and made, and, after the cope is rammed, a gutter is 
then dug on the two longest sides of the mould, about 
4'' below the level of tlie joint, and a long jj" vent 
wire is then used to vent under the pattern, so as to 
connect, and thus bring the gases from tlie smaller ver- 
tical vent holes to the outside of the mould or gutter. 
Should there be any danger of a run-out, or tlie sand chok- 
ing up the gutter vents, there can be some cinders placed 
in the gutter, and then filled over with sand, and before 
going to cast, a few holes can be dug down to the cinders, 
so as to allow the vent to escape. Tlie difference in making 
a bed for such a thin casting as these fronts, and a bed for 
thicker or heavier castings, is very little. The heavier the 
casting, the more strain there is upon the bed when it is 



MAKIl^G AKD VENTIKG BEDS. 85 

being poured, hence the liarder should be the foundation or 
tlie body of sand within one inch of the surface of the bed; 
but tlie surface sand should not be made much harder for a 
heavy casting than for a light one. It is when the first 
inch of running iron is being raised uj^on the mould's sur- 
face that the scabbing, caused by too hard surface ramming, 
is generally done. 

Whenever it is necessary that the surface of the bed should 
be harder, then pound down three-eighths of an inch of 
sand. Tlie best plan is not to make the surface 
first higher, and then ram down, in order to have it 
stand an increased strain, but to ram uj) firmly within 
f of the top of the straight edges, instead of the IJ", 
as above stated ; and, after this solid bed is well vented, 
and the surface holes closed and the facing sand put on ; 
then use the f " thickness pieces to level off with ; this 
would make 1^" thickness of soft sand, occupying three- 
quarters of an inch when pounded down. Many mould- 
ers make beds for a heavy casting by ramming up within 
about f" of the toji, and then putting on facing sand, 
and afterwards cither pound it down with a parallel strike 
or a butt rammer. They will then vent directly from 
the top surface, and to keep the iron from getting into 
tlie vent holes, poke their longest finger into every vent 
hole ; after which they go all over the bed and fill the de- 
pressions. If these practical moulders would only think 
a moment, they could not help seeing that the object 
which they are trying to accomplish is really being de- 
stroyed, for, instead of the vents being brought near to the 
top surface, the action of the finger has closed them up, so 
that it would be safe to say that there were no vents 
within IJ" of the top surface. Another objection to 
this plan is the irregular resistance of the bed, since it is 
almost impossible to make a bed of uniform hardness 



86 GKEEK SAND MOULDING. 

when one spot is rammed with a strike or rammer, and 
another witli a man's fingers. It takes but little reflection 
to see which of the two plans is the best. A bed with 
its vents an even distance from the surface, and the bed it- 
self of an even hardness all over its surface, two important 
points that cannot be denied as elements most important in 
order to make a good reliable bed. Beds for open sand 
castings are, as a general tiling, never vented, because there 
is very little strain upon the bed, and therefore the lower 
sand can be left unrammed, which leaves the sand so porous 
that the gases can freely escape downwards. When a cast- 
ing over 2" thick requires an exact level and smooth face 
upon it, it is sometimes best to make the open sand bed, and 
have the lower sand rammed and the bed well vented, and 
made similar to the bed described for making the fire fronts. 
One of the most popular classes of castings made in open 
sand are furnace plates for rolling-mills and blast-furnaces. 
When a foundry has a quantity of tliis class of work to do, 
it is a good thing to use some sharp sand mixed in with the 
moulding sand. This will permit the beds to be rammed 
lightly, without using any vent wire upon then. Some 
places make the surface of the bed altogether of the sharp 
sand, and, to make the sand peel from the castings, they 
use water-lime cement dusted on and slacked, like blacking. 
The lime is valuable to peel a casting, but the objection to 
its use on nice work is the dead color which it gives to the 
skin of castings. The sharp sand used can be either bank 
or lake sand. The thinner the casting, the softer should 
the open sand beds be made. For j)lates about +" 
thick, dig up the bed about six inches deep, and leave 
it soft ; then open it as it leaves the shovel. If the sand 
is lumpy, it should be riddled. Level this sand with 
the top of the straight edges, then, if the sharp sand is 
used for the face or surface of the mould, spread it over. 



MAKING AND VENTING BEDS. 87 

and level it a quarter of an inch higher than the top 
of the straight edges. Should the casting be from one to 
two inches in thickness, the sand should be leveled three- 
eighths of an inch, after which the whole surface should be 
pounded level with the top of the straight edges. When 
a bed is struck off, as is sometimes required in order to 
make a very smooth surface after being pounded down, 
it is best to use a straight edge having a face of about 
one inch, and the striking off should never be done by 
pulling the straight edge along the sand, but it should 
be done by working it in an irregular manner across the 
bed, taking pains that every move is a forward one, for, 
if the edge is allowed to go backwards, it will leave marks 
upon the bed. The objection to striking off the bed smooth 
is that it is apt to start the surface sand if not done riglit. 
One great trouble with castings made in open sand is, that 
they are generally very rough or scabby, at the j^laces where 
the iron was poured into the bed. To prevent this, the bed 
in front of the basin should be made harder by using the 
flat surface of a piece of board. AYhen there is a large 
amount of iron to be poured, the portion made harder 
should have facing sand for its surface ; and this hardened 
portion, whether of facing or common sand, must be treated 
with the same process of venting as in the above cases for 
making hard beds. 

The most difficulty class of open sand casting that a 
moulder makes beds for, so as to prevent the iron from 
boiling or bubbling, is largo loam plates, that require long 
prickers cast on them. Sometimes it is necessary to have 
prickers three feet long, and in making a bed for these, it 
is impossible to use soft sand entirely, since the strain at the 
bottom portion of the deep prickers is such that the entire 
upper portion of the bed would be lifted up, so that the in- 
tended jorickered plate would become a rough, solid mass of 



88 GREEN SAND MOULDING. 

iron. The only safe way to make a bed of this class is to 
lightly ram it at the bottom portion, within about 8" of 
the top, and make the remainder of the bed similar to one 
for a light, thin, common plate casting. But when the 
long prickers are as near together as five inches, the plate 
will bubble more or less in any event when being poured, 
for the large amount of gas formed below the surface of the 
bed will cause this on account of the depth of the prickers. 
This trouble could be remedied somewhat by making a coke 
or cinder bed below the bed proper, and venting the bed 
into it with a small sized vent wire. 

A good illustration, showing the effect and amount of gas 
that is formed under open sand plates, was when a number 
of i^lain j)lates were wanted in a great hurry, and, since there 
was not much shop-room to mould them in, they were 
made very close together, having only about 3" of space 
between each plate. The size of plates was 6x4 feet, 
and there was a bed about 6' 6" wide and 25' 6" 
long made to mould six plates upon. They were poi>red, 
commencing at one end. The first and second plates 
were successfully poured, and the crane ladle was then 
refilled, and the third and fourth plates poured with 
some bubbling and blowing ; but when the fifth and 
sixth plates were poured, they boiled so hard that the 
iron was thrown three or four inches, and, as it became 
molten, so that the gas could not escape, its force raised 
the middle portion of the plate nearly 2" from the face 
of the mould. Had they been vented with a large vent 
wire straight down between each plate, all this trouble 
would have been avoided, as the gas could thus have escaped, 
and not been drawn from the plates already poured into 
the one that was being poured. It might be asked why 
the bed was not vented underneath. The bed in this 
case was all right, and soft enough to stand, and required 



MAKING AKD VEKTIKG BEDS. 89 

no venting, as the pouring of the first two plates proved ; 
but the trouble was closeness of the moulds. And thus, by 
not taking into account a simple, practical truth, a result, 
which should have proved a success, became a lamentable 
failure. 



90 GREEK SAKD MOULDING. 



METHOD OF MAKING A HEAYY GREEN SAND 

CASTING. 

Nearly two-thirds of all castings lost are lost on account 
of improper methods of making and placing gates and run- 
ners. The best method of gating green sand moulds is to 
make the gates as long as possible, as it does not take ayery 
long time for iron, when running directly against, or on the 
sand, to cut or wash it away. It is a good thing, where 
you have a large quantity of iron to run through a gate, to 
place cores against your pattern where the wash of the iron 
is; or mix some flour in the facing sand for the dangerous 
sections, and, if you can get at it, put. in some nails, having 
the heads even with the faces of the moulds. 

The gate and runners, and mode of moulding the casting, 
as shown in the cut, can be relied on as presenting a safe 
plan for any casting of a similar construction. This casting 
weighed about fourteen tons, and, being made in green sand, 
the utmost thought and caution were required to make a 
success, as the casting was not a plain block, but a casting 
that had all the worst features of a green sand mould to con- 
tend with, including corners, pockets, projections, and flanges 
in both cope and bottom part, with a depth of over four feet 
in the ground. 

The runners and gates were all made in cores, and rammed 
up with the mould. Being obliged to run this casting 
direct from the air furnace, as there were no large ladles, 
nor chance to build a reservoir to hold the iron, I contrived 
the runners and basins, as shown, to let the iron into the 



MAKING A HEAVY GREEK SAKD CASTIKG. 



91 




92 GREEI^- SAKD MOULDII^G. 

mould, should it come faster than calculated for. At the 
same time, if any lump should happen to choke up the tap- 
ping hole and make it come slower, there would be no chance 
for the air to blow out at that gate and start the mould blow- 
ing. As the iron came down the long spout, it filled up 
basin 1, which has a core sunk in it to hold back the dirt, 
so tliat it is all clean iron that goes into the mould. The 
basin 2 is the main runner, as it takes the iron to the bot- 
tom of the mould. Should the iron come too fast, it will 
flow over into basin 3. When the basin is full, lift out the 
iron plug, and the iron goes into the mould. Sliould the 
iron come slowly afterwards, so as not to flow over into basin 
3, and the mould is not filled up to the level of this gate, 
the air cannot escape, as there will be eiglit inches of iron in 
lower angle gates. 

Where iron went into the mould, there were set cores, 
the shape of the pattern, to prevent any washing. The cut 
shows how the projections were rodded and vented. All 
corners were well nailed, and rodded with small-sized rods, 
also vented with a fine vent wire directly from the face of 
the mould, which is a good j)lan to adopt in any green sand 
corners, that are liable to scab, and the sand for the face of 
projections was mixed, one-third sharp sand, and rammed 
lightly. Instead of having wooden bars to lift the pockets 
out of the cope, iron frames were made the shape of each 
pocket, and bolted to the cope. The facing sand for the 
cope was mixed one to twenty of flour, and when the cope 
was finished it was well wet with molasses and water, while 
a fire of shavings and chips was made under it,' until the 
surface was dried like a dry-sand mould. 



MAKIN^a A HEAVY GKEEK SAI^D CASTING. 



93 




94 



GREEN SAKD MOULDING. 



lEON AND WOODEN FLASKS. 

For a foundry to have a good supply of flasks is one 
thing, but to keep them in repair is quite another thing. 
In a jobbing shop, especially, it is a serious trouble and ex- 
pense to keep the flasks in order and mated. A moulder is 




at any time liable to get a job to make, for which he will 
be obliged to take parts of several flasks — perhaps two or 
three copes and as many bottoms — and bolt or nail them 



IRON" AND WOODEN FLASKS. 95 

together. Quite likely, to get what he wants, he gets in 
parts of different flasks, and another moulder discovers 
that some of these pieces are just what he wants, and event- 
ually, instead of being put where they belong, they are 
dumped down indiscriminately at the handiest place. Per- 
haps, to complicate matters, the foreman will order some 
of the parts of a half dozen flasks put carefully aside for 
future prospective use, on another piece that may be 
ordered. In any event, the parts of different flasks get 
promiscuously mixed, and the result is that some moulder 
looking for a cope to cover n pattern bedded in, or wanting 
a bottom to raise some part higher, will see these j)arts so 
nicely piled up, and the part that he Avants at the bottom of 
the pile. Sooner than go for the man who has charge of 
the flasks to help him, he will throw down the whole pile, 
smashing pins and handles. This is the way the thing 
works in almost every regular Jobbing foundry. 

A foundry for special work does not require much over 
half the room that a jobbing foundry does, for storing 
flasks. In a foundry designed and equipped for special work, 
there is generally a large number of flasks for the same jiat- 
tern ; and when any pattern is brought into the foundry to be 
made, the foreman can send for the required flask, without 
spending two or three hours* time in looking for stray copes 
and bottoms. Their flasks can be piled up high, because 
they do not have to be disturbed to get a part of a flask 
from the bottom of the pile. In such shops men will work 
months — sometimes years — with the same set of flasks, 
whereas, in some jobbing shops, two weeks would be the 
limit. 

In a jobbing shop, as a rule, the moulders, when going to 
work in the morning, have no idea what job they will start 
on, or the number of new jobs they may be called on to 
make before getting home again. 



96 



GREEK SAND MOULDING. 



An assortment of miscellaneous jobbing flasks should have 
plenty of ground room, and the piles should be made open 
and not very high, so that a man looking for a flask will be 
able to see every j)art without having to throw down a pile. 
There should be some one in charge of the flasks, and he 
should report any man known to ill-use them, and then, if 
the foreman does his duty, there will be no need of moulders 
losing their night's sleep worrying over a drop-out caused 
by loose bars, crooked pins, or shaky flasks. Of course this 
does not mean that a jobbing shop cannot be run without 
having an acre or two to pile up flasks on. There are plenty 



t 




of shops doing a large business that do not have much 
ground room, but have to hoist their flasks on the top of 
flat roofs ; their very large ones are never taken out of the 
shop. 

In this country, wooden flasks are used more than in 
foreign countries. When foreign moulders come to work in 
America, they wonder at so many wooden flasks being used. 
They are sometimes afraid to start to work with them, and 
if they have a run-out, or drop-out, the old wooden flasks 
get the blame. 



iro:n^ akd wooden flasks. - 97 

Wooden and iron flasks each liave their especial advant- 
ages : the iron one is the most dnrable, is stiffer, and can be 
relied on in matters of dropping, run-outs, or strained cast- 
ings. Take a large plate full of holes, cast one with a wooden, 
and one with an iron flask, and then look at the difference 
in the two castings. The one made in the wooden flask, 
with all the time spent wedging down the bars, and blocking 
up to get the weights, or screw-down binders on, may be 
from i" to ^" thicker in the middle than it should be, and 
as for the holes, they are not to be seen on the cope side 
at all. 

Wooden flasks hg,ve also their advantages. They are 
handy to lift and carry, and better adapted for a dull 
foundry hatchet, to carve out the bars, so as to admit of the 
cope being used for various castings. After being pitched 
around eight or nine times, they will also save the cupola 
man lots of time and labor in hunting up kindling-wood to 
start his fire with. 

There are more iron flasks used in this country at i3resent 
than were formerly used. 8ome shops that have a standard 
of work can rig up iron flasks with loose bars and side 
pieces, that can be bolted together to answer the purpose 
for making a variety of castings. 

The sketches represent the principle of construction, etc., 
of plain iron flasks, such as every jobbing shop should or 
could use. The smallest ones, without bars, are very light 
and handy for small jobbing castings. The second size is a 
cope about as heavy as two men can lift off. The lug and 
pin, H H, sliould be attached to special flasks where 
parts of the casting are to be made in the copes. This pin 
is expensive, as it involves considerable machine-shop labor 
to make, as in turning the pins and boring the holes, but it 
will pay for itself in a short time, when used for making 
l)ulleys, etc. 
5 



98 



GREEK SAKD MOULDING. 



For dry sand work tliat requires to be closed very true, 
the flasks sliould have three or four pins. The j)ius may 
sometimes need to be one foot in length, so as to close true 
over cylinder port cores and the like. The pin shown, cast 
on the small flasks, costs very little to fit up, and is very 
good for a plain class of work. 

The large iron flask shown possesses seyeral advantageous 





m-iii-l^^ 




f U 




% 





i^B- 




^x 



— rr 






features. The round trunnion is a common but very handy 
thing for turning over copes, so as to get to finish them 
easily. This may be cast on, the flask having handles, also, 
if required. The handle. If, is of wrought iron, cast into 
tlie ilask, which makes a neat lifting-handle. It is cast in 
on a slant, so as to be in aline with the chains when lifting. 
The handle on the opposite side is cast-iron, and should be 



IKOK AKD WOODEK FLASKS. 



99 



large for strength, but should be made convenient for hook- 
ing to. Guides, as shown at A", A', should be cast on for driv- 
ing down stakes alongside of. The loose plate or bar Y can 
be bolted to the flanges, should the flask require to be made 
longer, or to have a jnece or pocket bolted on for any pur- 
230se. To accomplish the same purpose, tlie whole flask is 
sometimes cast togetlier, and one end cut out about f ", so 
there will be no bearing on the joint, and when the flask is 
wanted longer, a section is bolted against its flat surface. 
The objection to this is, tliat the end cut out is never solid 
on the joint when the flask is used without the extension, 
and when there is a piece bolted on it, the joint forms a flat 
clumsy surface for the sand to hang to. 

The flasks shown are intended for a plain class of green 
sand work, such as almost every jobbing foundry has to do. 
Deep flasks, in some instances, are better for being made in 
sections, and bolted together. Iron flasks for dry sand 
work are better if miide J" tliicker than shown in the cuts, 
as they have to stand rougher handling. 

The cut of a v/ood- 
en flask shows a 
good reliable way of 
making a stiff flask 

for a medium class f ^ 1^- 

of work. The angle 



H 




piece B is cast-iron, 
and is a good thing 
to 2>ut in the corners 
of large flasks for 
bolting tlie sides to- 
gether. This angle would be better if a small bracket was cast 
on the inside corners, so as to make it stronger. J) shows a 
trunnion tliat can be bolted to a flask, to roll it over, or the 
two ends could be entirely of iron, with the trunnions cast 



100 



GREEN SAND MOULDING. 



on, and wooden sides bolted to them. When bolts will not 
hold a large flask stiff enougli, cast-iron bars are sometimes 
used instead of wooden ones, having flanges cast on to bolt 
tJie sides and bars together. The handle R is wrought iron, 
to come under the bottom of the cope, and has two bolt- 
lioles in it. This makes a reliable lifting hook for very 
heavy copes. 

Should a moulder wish to know the weight of the sand he 
has rammed up in a flask, in order to tell if the crane or 
chain is strong enough to lift it, he can remember that one 
cubic foot of sand when, rammed, and of the right temper, 

about one hun- 




-;s 



weighs 



-18- 



^dred j^ounds. 
■ The bars can be far- 
ther apart in deep copes 
than in shallow ones, for 
green as well as dry sand. 
VThe sides of wooden copes 
/If or large flasks should 
/be made of 3" to 4'' 
f planks. Hard pine will 
last longer than soft pine, 
especially if pounded much with a sledge-hammer, which 
should never be done if there are wooden mallets to be had. 
In making iron flasks the best iron should be used, as a good 
flask is an essential feature in turning out good castings. 
They should receive care and proper handling, otherwise, in 
a shoi't time, a new flask will be only fit for kindling-wood 
or scrap. 



SKIMMIKG AN^D FLOW-OFF GATES. 101 



SKIMMma AND FLOW-OFF GATES. 

As melted iron contains more or less dirt and impurities, 
which keep rising to the surface of the metal, more especially 
while it is exposed to the air, it is of the utmost importance 
to have the runners and gates made so as to collect the dirt 
as much as possible before the metal enters the mould, to in- 
sure a clean, solid casting. The gate shown is an improve- 
ment on the common skimming gate, as there is one more 
riser or dirt-catcher in it, into which the iron goes circling 
round, whirling the dirt up to the top. It is astonishing 
how little thought some moulders have about the principle 
of skimming gates. Go into almost any foundry, and you 
will see men making or working on good work, setting the 
largest runner for the pourer, and the smallest for the dirt- 
catcher ; or they will cut the gate that goes into the mould 
larger than any other portion of the runners or gates. I have 
also seen skimming gates cut when the man cutting them 
did not kiiow which one of the upright runners was the one 
to pour into. This showed that, of course, he had given no 
thought to the subject. There were, in the instance referred 
to, two upright runners, with a channel cut between them, 
and he thought he was cutting a skimming gate. In the ac- 
companying cut is shown a crank for an engine, bedded in 
the floor. To save work, the face is cast up, and it requires 
the greatest of care as regards clean iron going into the 
mould. The gate that leads into the mould is cut the small- 
est of any, so that the rest of the gates and runners may be 
kept full of iron. The dirt flows up to the top of the risers 



102 GREEiq^ SAND MOULDING. 

A and B. In this way clean iron goes into the mould. Eis- 
ers A and B have no connection cut in the cope j^art, it 
being cut in the bottom, from B to A, and on a circle, so 
tliat the iron will whirl around in the riser ^. The runner 
and pouring gate I) are connected with B in the coj^e part, 
but can be connected in the bottom part, like A and B, 
should it not be practicable to connect in the cope. The 
pouring runner I) is large enough to keep the lower gate full 
of iron, and the two dirt-holders or risers are larger by one- 
third than the jiouring runner. 

The pouring basin if, if for a very heavy casting, could be 
made longer, and a skimming core added, as shown in a pre- 
vious article on " Making a Heavy Green Sand Casting." 
All the runners should be rammed even, so that there are no 
soft s2)ots in them, and all corners or edges of the gates and 
runners made rounding, so that the running iron can have 
no cliance to Avash sand into the casting. 

The numbers 3 and 4 show a good plan of risers to take 
the strain off the mould when pouring. The riser 3 is con- 
nected with the pouring gate, and a clay ball stops the iron 
from flowing away until the mould is full. It then flows 
down the outlet, under the joint of the flask. The connec- 
tions between 3 and 4 can be cut down as low as 3 inches, 
which leaves very little strain on the mould. This is also 
used independently ; but cutting the riser from the mould, 
and having three or four of them, causes a sudden pressure 
on tlie cope to be greatly released. As a good skimming gate 
is essential in making a clean casting, so are good risers 
necessary to keep a casting from being strained. In this re- 
spect they are of equal importance, and too much attention 
should not be given to one to the exclusion of the other. 



SKIMMING AND FLOW-OFF GATES. 



103 



J? 




LONGITUDINAL SECTION 




104 GREEN SAND MOULDING. 



MAKING A GREEN SAND BASIN— RUNNERS 

AND GATES. 

In making castings, the basin, runners, and gates are often 
responsible for their being bad. There is nothing in the 
whole ai't of moulding that requires more care than the mak- 
ing of these parts of a mould. A moulder may slight the 
rest of his mould and have his casting come out all right, but 
any carelessness or ignorance in making the basins, runners, 
or gates, Avill almost always cause trouble. 

In pouring a mould, the iron first drops from the ladle 
into the basin ; from the basin it runs with more or less of a 
rush into tlie upright runners, from the runners into the 
gates, and from the gates into the mould. With the excep- 
tion of that portion of the mould which the iron enters or 
drops into, there is very little agitation of the metal as it 
gradually rises. 

In the cut shown, H is the cavity into which the iron first 
drops as it is poured out of the ladle ; Y is the runner 
through which the iron flows to the gate K, from which it 
runs into the mould. 

Eor pouring five-ton ladles, the width of a basin should 
not be less than 18", and the depth should be 9". The bot- 
tom of the basin, where the iron first droj)s, should not be less 
than 2" deeper than at 8. From S down to the runner, Y, 
there should be an easy incline ; the longer the basin the 
more incline there should be. This assists the iron in flow- 
ing, making sure of keeping the runners full, and also pre- 
vents any iron remaining in the basin when the mould 



MAKING A GliEEN SAND BASIN. 105 

is full, except tliat which is in the cavity that is formed for 
the iron to drop from the ladle into. This cavity is pro- 
vided for the purpose of preventing the cutting of the bot- 
tom of the basin, which would be the case was this part 
made even with the rest. This cavity, which is soon filled, 
allows the iron to fall into iron instead of on sand. When 
this cavity is filled, the iron runs easily from it to the mould, 
lessening the danger of cutting, and allowing the iron to be 
iTished in, so as to keep tl\e runners full. 

For the pouring of larger ladles than five tons, the width 
of basins should be from 18" up to 30", and the depth from 
9" to 15''. 

When making green sand basins, the sand should be Avell 
mixed and riddled before it is shoveled into the basin box. 
The careless use of unmixed sand for making basins often 
causes bad castings. 

There is one way of making basins that many moulders 
follow, but which a careful moulder will never employ ; that 
is, they will shovel in some sand, and form the shape of the 
basin by packing up the sides with handfuls of sand. This 
makes a loose basin, and one that is liable to cause trouble. 

To make a reliable basin, the box should first be evenly 
rammed full of sand, after which the shape of the Ijasin can 
be dug out with a shovel or trowel, thereby giving a firm, 
solid basin, as far as the ramming of the sand is concerned. 
The trouble with basins usually commences at the bottom, 
and is caused by the' falling iron cutting the sand or letting 
the iron get to the wooden bars. A good moulder will never 
have less than 3" of sand between the bottom of his basin 
and the wooden bars. 

There are two or three ways that the bottom of green sand 

basins may be secured so as to prevent cutting when used to 

pour heavy castings. The first is to stick nails all over the 

bottom, having the lieads even with the surface of the sand. 

5* 



106 GREEN SAND MOULDING. 

The second and third ways are to set in a flat core, or two 
fire or common bricks to form the bottom. In either of the 
last ways there is very little danger of the falling iron causing 
any trouble. 

For the pouring of heavy castings it is best, when possible, 
to build basins outside the copes instead of on tlie top of 
them, for the reason that high heads can thus be avoided, 
thereby not having so much strain uj^on the mould. The 
cut of basin shown is one thus made. In this basin 
will be noticed a coke or cinder bed jolaced underneath the 
basin, which is a very good plan for large surface basins, as 
it will carry off the gases and steam, and tliereby prevent 
any boiling or scalding of tlie bottom of the basin. Some- 
times dry sand basins are made, and hoisted from the oven 
carriage and placed where wanted for the pouring of very 
heavy castings. Some moulders prefer to use them instead of 
green sand basins. 

Another part of a green sand basin tliat often gives way 
while the mould is being poured, is the front, X. Sometimes 
a moulder will cut out the front as if he were trying to make 
the end at exact right angles with the sides of the basin, as 
shown at P. This may do well enough for small basins, but 
for large ones it should never be done. The safest way is 
to form this end as shown at TF, having the end very nearly 
a circle. Sometimes it is best, in the instance of very large 
basins, to have this end of the box full of nails, driven so as 
to stick out two or three inches, to have a good hold of the 
sand; that is, when wooden basin boxes are used, but for 
iron boxes (which, when ]")Ossible, should be given the pref- 
erence), the front should be secured by being roded. 

How often have moulders seen castings lost by having the 
wooden basin box spread open, which would liave been pre- 
vented had there been some narrow strips of wood nailed 
across the bottom, as shown at B; or cast or wrought 



MAKII^G A GREEN SAKD BASIN. 



107 




108 GREEK SAND MOULDIKG. 

iron clamjis used to hold the sides together, as shown at 
EEE. 

Again, the iron will burst out from underneath the box, 
from the lack of weights or wedges to hold it down. 

There are very few moulders that can be trusted with the 
making of a basin to pour a large casting with. They thinh 
they know, and it is not until they have lost a number of 
castings that they are convinced of their carelessness or igno- 
rance. They are not always convinced, but will lay the 
blame to the basin box, the sand, the helper, or will confi- 
dentially tell some of their friends they were made to pour 
the iron too hot, or too fast, and that no basin would stand 
such treatment. 

The rammer and swab jiot arc very necessary tools in a 
foundry, but in the hands of a thoughtless or ignorant 
moulder they are about as dangerous as a loaded revolver in 
the hands of a child. There are no tools used in a foundry 
that are more responsible for bad casting than the rammer 
arid swab. 

" Bring me that rammer," yells the moulder to his helper, 
and when he gets it he uses it lustily. 

" Bring mc that swab pot." He gets it, and on goes the 
water, plenty of it, too. AVhat's the use of being afraid of 
water? 

Around comes the ladle, and out of the ladle into the 
basin goes the iron. From the basin up to the roof it flies, 
the men let go the ladle, and run to the corners to see if 
they are burned ; then they will sit down and think of the 
moulder and his swab pot and rammer. 

When a good moulder, or one that thinks he is, loses a 
casting on account of his basin, he should never blame any 
one but himself; for he should know from experience what 
is required. 

A moulder can tell by the looks what sizes of runner 



MAKING A GREEN SAND BASIN, 109 

sticks or gates he wants. If a moulder orders a runner or 
gate stick made without liaving one to get the size from, 
he will hardly ever be satisfied with it. 

In thin*king of the number and size of runner or gate 
sticks for a mould, there are many points that should be 
considered. Tlie first is the weight of the casting, and 
whether it should be poured fast or slow. The second, the 
form of it, and whether its ^proportions are heavy or light. 
The third, what temperature of metal will tlie mould re- 
quire to be 230ured with ; will it be run from the bottom or 
from the top of the mould; and also the height of the basin 
above the mould. 

As a general thing, the faster a mould can be poured with 
safety to all of its parts, the better it is. It is not always 
the weiglit of a casting that decides whether the runner and 
gate sticks should be large or small, to pour the mould fast 
or slow. The common, old style grate-bars, that have thin 
openings or cores in tliem, are a good example to show wliy 
some moulds require to be poured slowly. 

Many very good moulders have worked on this class of 
castings, and have been astonished at their lack of success 
in making good ones. A grate-bar, or any mould that has 
similar thin green sand cores in it, should be poured with 
hot iron, and slow. Pouring them slowly gives the gases and 
steam in the sand a chance to escape through the vents, and 
the iron, being hot, will easily run level, and not j)ile up 
higher nearer to the gates than in distant portions of the 
mould, as dull iron will generally do, thereby causing thin 
bodies of sand to be displaced. Hot iron will also admit of 
the pouring of such moulds slow, without danger of the 
castings being cold shut. 

Moulds having thin green sand or dry sand cores in them, 
should often be poured hot and slow for the reasons above 
stated. Very heavy castings that have no dangerous dry or 



110 GREEN SAXD MOULDING. 

green cores in them, should have large runners and gates, 
so as to admit of the iron being poured dull and fast, and 
the same with any moulds that the copes would easily draw 
down. 

There are also large and small moulds that require hot 
iron poured in them fast, in order to have all the parts run 
and not be cold shut. 

Again, there are some moulds that require the liquid iron 
to be forced into them as fast as possible, for which high 
heads or basins should be made. Castings, such as cylinder 
or pipe-shaped moulds, that are cast vertically, should have 
larger runners and gates where they are poured altogether 
from the bottom, than where they are poured from the top, 
by drojoping the metal down, as when the iron is all poured 
from the bottom it gets duller as it rises up in the mould. 
Many times, such moulds are poured from the bottom and 
top also, so as to avoid having any trouble from dull or dirty 
iron in the upper portions of the casting. A cylinder, etc., 
will bore out cleaner if poured from the top, than if poured 
from the bottom. Iron dropping from the top keeps cutting 
up any forming lumps of dirt, causing it to float and keep 
on top of the rising iron ; and also when iron is run from 
the top, there is as hot iron in the upper portion as in the 
lower portion of the mould. But when poured altogether 
from the bottom, the iron becomes dirty and duller as it 
rises up, and the dirt will collect in lumps and roll under 
flanges, cores, etc., and also lodge against the sides or sur- 
faces of the mould, and it is not until the casting is bored 
or plained, that the dirt is seen. Iron should always be 
poured into a mould as far as possible from the parts that 
require to be finished up the cleanest, since the dirtiest por- 
tion of a casting is where it is poured or gated. A smoother 
skin can be made on a cylinder by pouring it from the bottom, 
but it will be at the expense of its being dirty when bored. 



WEIGHTING DOWN COPES. Ill 



WEIGHTING DOWN COPES— DAMP 
FOUNDRY FLOORS. 

Melted iron supports and floats a body the specific grav- 
ity of which is not greater than its own, the same as water 
or any other fluid. Solid cold iron floats on the top of melted 
iron, similar to ice floating on water. Water, when frozen, 
expands, but the expansion does not make the body any 
heavier or lighter. A definite quantity of water weighs the 
same whether liquid or frozen. AVater, in changing to ice, 
expands about one-ninth of its bulk, which makes ice spe- 
cifically lighter than water, and therefore it swims or floats 
on it, about eight times as much being below as above the 
surface. 

An iron ship sinks until it disj^laces water equal to its 
weight and then floats ; but if the same quantity of iron 
were in a solid mass, it would instantly sink to the bottom. 

In each of the above cases the cause is quite plain ; but in 
the instance of iron floating on iron, the matter is not so 
ajoparent. With ice there is an observable expansion, which 
in solid iron is not seen. 

With reference to the floating of water and iron, the iron, 
when melted, must be specifically heavier than it is when 
cold ; or iron, when cold, must be more bulky than when 
hot, in order to be the same as ice. But to say that iron ex- 
pands so as to occupy more space when it is cold than when 
it is melted or hot, would be to ignore observable results 
that occur in almost every casting made. When a pattern 
is constructed to make a casting from, it is made from gV to 



112 GREEN SAKD MOULDING. 

I of an inch per foot larger than the casting is wanted. In 
an open sand monld for making a bar, ring, or plate cast- 
ing, after being poured, the liquid iron begins to cool and 
contract, and the contraction is steady and visible from the 
beginning to the end. 

If cast iron expands when Cooling (as is stated by some 
authors), why is it that a heavy casting, after the mould is 
filled, requires so much feeding, taking from 200 to 400 
pounds of melted iron to supply the shrinkage of the cool- 
ing iron ? The satisfactory answering of this question will, 
I think, be troublesome. 

There is one thing that moulders know to be a fact, and 
that is, when melted iron, when poured into a mould, will 
raise a cope so as to run out, and perhaps make a bad cast- 
ing, if the cope is not bolted, clamjied, or weighted down 
sufficiently to resist the head pressure, and the momentum 
with which the rising iron comes up against the cope or 
covering. 

The weight a cope requires on it, to hold it down, de- 
pends on three distinct things ; the first of which is the 
height of head or pouring basin above the casting ; the 
second, the velocity with which the iron comes up against 
the surface of the coj^e ; and the third, the number of 
square inches in the lifting surface of the cope or top part 
of the casting. 

In every mould these three conditions, in a greater or less 
degree, are present, and must be i:)rovided against. The 
momentum of the iron against the cope is the reason why a 
flask sometimes requires so much weight on the cope to hold 
it down. If it were not for this sudden pressure, as it were, 
one-half of the weight used would in some cases be suffi- 
cient. 

For a moulder to say, as some do, that he has a standard 
rule whereby he can figure up the pressure on a cope, and 



weigiitikCt dowk copes. 113 

hence the exact weight required to hold it down, to my view 
is al}surd. A standard rule for weighting down all moulds 
would be a very good thing, could one be established that all 
moulders could use. But I think such a thing is not prac- 
tical in all cases. If, however, the moulder is a good mathe- 
matician and averager, he may be able to get a fair idea of 
the amount of weight required ; but to depend altogether 
on a standard rule of specific gravities, is not safe. In order 
to successfully Aveight down all flasks, a moulder must have 
EXPERiEN"CE and good sound judgment. 

The various shapes and forms of castings, and the position 
and forms of runners, also whether a mould requires slow or 
fast pouring, etc., all require consideration, and generally call 
for more weight on some parts of a mould than on other 
parts. The only safe plan in weighting a cope is not to be 
afraid to have plenty of weight on, especially on that part 
of it where the runners are located. There are as many 
castings lost from the iron running out behind runners and 
gates, as in any other way. 

The cuts B and W show in plan and side view a cast-iron 
weight of about one ton, made expressly for weighting down 
flasks. In a shop provided with a number of these, a 
cope can be reliably weighted very readily. The F grooves 
are cast in the weight, so that it can be broken and re- 
melted whenever desired. Some shops, by their own bad 
castings, have supplied themselves with weights, while some 
buy heavy scrap, and again otliers will fill wrought-iron 
rings v/ith pig-iron to make crane weights. 

The cut, showing a cope bolted down, represents a plan 
that some foundries have adopted to save labor in hoisting 
on and off weights, and to 'insure safety. It is almost im- 
possible for a cope to rise so as to have run-outs when firmly 
bolted down in the manner shown. 

One, or as many bolting-down floors as can be used in a 



114 GREEN SAND MOULDIKG. 

slioj), will save time in making castings that have great lift- 
ing surface on tlie copes . 

To make a bolting-down floor, as shown, a hole is dug as 
deep as required, and bottom cast-iron binders placed solid 
and level. 

On some floors that are wanted for long or large moulds, 
there can be as many binders as required, set a handy dis- 
tance apart, which, for a common run of work, is about five 
feet. The binders should be about twelve feet long. On 
the top of these binders are bedded some heavy planks, and 
the sand shoveled in on them and rammed solid ; then the 
bolting-down floor is ready for use. 

Tlie slanting coke or cinder bed, shown below the upper 
bed, is sometimes good for moulding castings in a wet or 
dami^ floor, which, however, is a very bad thing to be both- 
ered with, as there is nothing that a moulder dreads worse 
than having to make a deep, heavy casting in a damp floor. 

I have made castings by this plan wiiere the lower part 
of the floor v/as nothing but mud — sometimes so wet that 
iron plates were laid down before the slanting coke-bed could 
be made. 

By having two beds, as shown, the vents and heat from 
the melted iron, when poured into a mould, is taken off by 
the upper bed. If the heat should get to the lower bed, so 
as to cause steam, there miglit be danger of scabbing or 
blowing were this lower bed the only one used ; but, as 
shown, there is no danger. A deep wooden box, X, is set 
in, so that if any water collects below it can be bailed out. 

Some shops can be sewered so as to drain off the water. 
But if this is not possible, it is a good plan to have a deep 
pit or well dug iii a shop to coll(?ct the drainage, and to col- 
lect the water from wet floors. 

Floors could have plates full of small holes under them, 
resting on the top of flat timbers, jflaced three feet apart. 



WEIGHTIKO DOWN COPES. 



115 



\^ 



c 



V v~: 

ct 



_V\ /\ 

5 feet 






























^ 


^^^ -''^ 


w 


\ 


-^J:'i^.- 








" p^ 














































WEIGHTS FOR FLASKS — PLAN OF MOULDING ON WET FLOOR. 



116 GREEK SAND MOULDIiq^G. 

The timbers should rest on large flat plates on a solid bot- 
tom. The timbers between the upper and lower plates will 
leave an oj^en channel under the mould, and with a good 
bed of coke or cinders laid on the plates, any water collected 
will pass through the holes in the plates to the large ojien 
channels below, and run into a well, from which it can be 
bailed or pumped out by hand or by a steam-j)ump. 

Some shops have large tanks of boiler iron sunk into the 
floor, and by moulding inside of them they avoid the damp- 
ness. But there is much objection to their use, on account 
of the shop room spoiled by the edge of the tank coming in 
the way of general jobbing work. 



APPRE:tfTICES' ITEMS. 117 



ONE HUNDRED ITEMS THAT APPRENTICES 
SHOULD KNOW AND REMEMBER. 

1. Moulding sand contains gases. 

2. The gases in moulding sand pass out when iron is 
poured into a mould. 

3. These gases may pass off in a right way or a wrong way. 

4. When iron bubbles or boils, the gases are passing off 
the wrong way. 

5. When gases pass up through the iron, it is because the 
sand is rammed too hard or is not properly vented. 

6. Hard ramming closes up the porosity of the sand, but 
the vent wire opens it. 

7. Too much water used in mixing sand creates too much 
steam when the mould is poured. 

8. Steam accumulating under liquid iron, will raise and 
blow it up. 

9. When iron bubbles or boils in a mould, it will make a 
scabbed or bad casting. 

10. Iron naturally seeks a soft bed. If poured on a 
hard bed it will bubble and fly. 

11. The face of a mould should always be the softest. 

12. Whenever hard ramming is required, it should be done 
on the outside portion of a mould. 

13. A rammer should never be allowed to strike a pattern 
when ramming up a mould. 

14. When ramming up the sides of a pattern, the pin 
should not go nearer than one inch to the face ; the butt 
should at least be kept one and a half inches from the face. 



118 GEEEK SAKD MOULDING. 

15. Too much depth of sand in a ramming will be apt 
to make swells u^oon tlie sides of a casting. 

16. In ramming courses of sand, the rammer should be 
made to feel the under or last course rammed. 

17. Too much venting will seldom do any harm, but 
hard ramming will. 

18. Hard ramming requires good venting. 

19. To vent hard ramming requires muscle, and do 
not be afraid to em2)loy it. 

20. Learn to ram even and lightly. 

21. Some moulders will ram harder than others. 

22. He that practices hard ramming will always have the 
most trouble. 

23. Some parts of a mould require and will stand harder 
ramming than others. 

24. The higher the head or pressure upon the lowest 
portion of a mould, the harder should be the ramming 
there. 

25. Plain vertical sides of a mould will stand harder ram- 
ming than the flat bed-surface of a mould. 

20. Cores, or a projection that is surrounded by iron, 
should be rammed even and lightly, and also well vented. 

27. Any bottom section of a mould that is covered 
rapidly with iron, so as to have a pressure upon it, will 
stand harder ramming than where it is to be covered over 
slowly. 

28. The lowest point of a mould's sides is the one which 
should be rammed the hardest. 

29. The highest point of a mould's sides is the one which 
requires to be rammed the lightest. 

30. The flat surfaces of copes will stand liarder ramming 
than the bottom surfaces of the mould. 

31. In plain copes the gases and steam are on top of the 
iron. 



APPREI^^TICES' ITEMS. 119 

32. In beds or bottoms of moulds, the gases and steam 
are underneath the iron. 

33. Gases or steam do not act well underneath hot iron. 

34. The bottom portions of rammed moulds should always 
be provided with ways and means to let the gases and steam 
escape easily. 

35. If tliere is not a good opjoortunity for gas and steam 
to escape downwards, it is seldom that there is pressure 
or body of iron strong enough to keep them from j^assing 
up through the iron, and thereby causing a casting to blow 
or be scabbed. 

36. It does not require so much pressure or force to drive 
steam or gas upwards through iron, as is required that 
the iron may hold or force steam or gases downwards. 

37. The harder the ramming, the more force or pressure will 
iron require in order to drive the gases or steam downwards. 

38. There is less gas in old sand than in new. 

39. Facing-sand, or sand having blacking, flour, or sea-coal 
mixed in with them, contain an increased amount of gases. 

40. The more gas there is in sand, the more venting 
should be done. 

41. Avoid using the swab as much as possible when 
finishing a mould. 

42. Finishing a mould by often using a swab, makes 
rough, scabby casting. 

43. Never patch a mould Avith a trov/el, when you can 
patch it with your hand or fingers. 

44. The less sleeking done in order to properly finish 
a mould, the better will the casting be. 

45. Never sleek twice where once will do. 

46. Patching a mould with your fingers will never cause 
a scabby casting, but too much sleeking will. 

47. AVhen finishing, the lighter you can bear iq^on your 
tools the better. 



120 GREEN SAKD MOULDING. 

48. Heavy sleeking closes up the pores, and makes the 
surface of the mould hard. 

49. A hard surface sleeked mould is apt to cause cold 
shut, and thin scabs on a casting. 

50. The dryer sand can be worked and practically used, 
the better. 

51. The dryer the sand, the more ramming it will stand. 

52. The more ramming a mould will stand, the more strain 
can be put upon it. For heavy castings these last three num- 
bers should be specially remembered. 

53. A mould that needs to be poured fast, generally should 
be well vented. 

54. A fast-poured mould should be well made. 

55. The best way to know if a mould is a good one, is to 
fill it with iron, and then see if the casting is perfect when 
it is cleaned. 

56. It is not necessary that patterns should be jabbed full 
of holes in order to vent a mould. 

57. One inch thickness of facing-sand, over a mould, will 
peel a casting jis well as a foot thick. 

58. The use of facing-sand has caused more bad casting 
than common sand. 

59. Using the facing-sand too strong causes cold shut, 
or streaked castings. 

60. A cold shut casting is harder to deal with than a 
scabbed one. Scabs can be chipped off, but to hide cold 
shuts has puzzled many a moulder. 

61. Do not use facing-sand 1 to 8, when 1 to 10 would 
peel the casting. 

02. Facing-sand will stand the wash, or running of iron, 
better than common sand, where gates or runners are 
cut. 

03. The first course of ramming in a cojie should be evenly 
and firmly done. 



APPEEKTICES' ITEMS. 121 

64. The second and third courses do not require as much 
ramming as the first does. 

65. The butt rammer is used to make the sand solid be- 
tween the bars, so as to keep it from dropping out. 

GO, In using tlie butt rammer, be careful not to pound the 
cross bars, as you will be apt to loosen the sand on the face 
of the bars. 

67. Always know that the bars of your flask are solid and 
nailed in, so as not to get loose. 

68. When your cope is on, try if it will twist in the pin- 
holes or not, as a casting that has been made in a mould 
that has not been carefully closed, looks badly. 

69. Whenever you cut out the bars of a cope, do not for- 
get that bars in a cope are put there to hold or lift up the 
sand. 

70. If you can avoid having gaggers sticking up above the 
top of a cope, do so, as by this many a casting has been lost. 

71. Avoid using thick, heavy gaggers as much as possible. 

72. Always make sure of having two-thirds of the length 
of a gagger between the bars, when you have a body of sand 
to lift. 

73. The sand between the bars holds the gaggers, and the 
sand below the bars should be lifted by the gaggers. 

74. If there is not sufficient depth of sand between the 
bars, exceeding in inches that below it, wooden soldiers 
should be tacked on the bars to assist the gaggers. 

75. Never lose sight of the fact that iron gaggers are 
heavier than the same proportion of sand. 

76. A hanging body of sand would stand a better chance 
of being lifted by having no gagger, than by having a lot of 
short gaggers coming only an inch or two up between the bars. 

77. Keep the top of your pouring runners free from a lot 
of loose sand around the hole, by packing it firmly with your 
hand, and then swabbing it over lightly with water. 

6 



122 GREEK SAKD MOULDING. 

78. Never pour a ladle of iron unless it will be skimmed, 
and stand so that you need not move after commencing to 
J) our. 

79. If the castings are light, they should not be left m the 
sand over night, as they are apt to get rusty. 

80. Castings that will keep red-hot for two or three hours 
after being poured, are best kept covered over with sand until 
they become cold, since leaving them exposed to the effects 
of the atmosphere, destroys the good color of a casting. 

Loam akd Dry Sakd Moulds. 

81. Keep on good terms with the foreman, if you wish a 
chance to learn these branches of the trade. 

82. Dry sand moulds, as a general thing, should be rammed 
harder than green sand. 

83. Dry sand does not require as much venting as green 
sand, and there are many moulds that can be cast without 
having a vent in them. 

84. There is 'less gas in dry sand than green sand, and if 
a mould is thoroughly dried, there is no steam to contend 
with. 

85. When ramming dry sand moulds, be just as careful 
to avoid hitting the pattern with the rammer, as with green 
sand moulds. 

86. All joints made on dry sand or loam moulds must be 
pressed or sleeked down, so as to leave a fin upon the casting, 
as this class of moulds would crush, if the joints were left 
as the mould was parted. 

87. There is an old maxim, that it is better to have a fin 
than a crush, the truth of which many old experienced 
moulders have found to their sorrow. 

88. When finishing dry sand moulds, sand should never 
be patched or sleeked on smooth or sleeked surfaces. 



apprentices' items. 123 

89. Dry sand mixtures depend upon what kind of sand or 
loam a shop uses ; almost every shop has a different way of 
mixing dry sand and loam. 

90. A close mixture of loam or dry sand is very liable to 
scab, while if it is too open, the mould will not stand the 
dropping or washing effect of the iron, when poured. 

91. To know what proportions of sharp and loam sands 
to mix together, a man must have experience, but some few 
places have a natural loam or dry sand that requires no 
mixed proportions. 

92. Dry sand or loam moulds, if not thoroughly dried, 
generally cause a casting to become scabbed. 

93. A casting poured hot will finish up cleaner than one 
poured dull, but a casting poured with dull iron will take a 
greater strain or weight to break it, than one poured with 
hot iron. 

94. It will take more strain to break cast-iron when there 
is heat in it, than when it is cold, and the same is true of 
wrought-iron. In winter, or very cold weather, chains should 
not be used to hoist as much as in the summer time ; some- 
times it is best to heat a cold chain before hoisting a 
heavy weight. 

95. It is not safe to hoist more than — 

20 tons with a 1" chain. 
14 " 



tn 



10 '' " I" 

CK a a 5 

3 " "J 



If chains are not made of the best iron, we should not 
hoist more than two-thirds of the weights given. 

96. When learning your trade, don't let your conceit run 
off with your common sense, as such conduct makes your 
superiors dislike you. 



124 GREEN SAI^D MOULDI^^G. 

97. Whenever you want to know, anything, if you have 
friends, they will tell you, and without such help you can do 
but little. 

98. Apprentices cannot afford to lose the good-will or 
friendshi]) of any one in their shoj^s. 

99. A good apprentice will make a good journeyman. 

100. Never allow yourself to think tliat you have learned 
the entire moulder's trade, for. one's knowledge here can 
constantly be increased ; no man has yet mastered the 
moulder's trade. 



BUILDING AND FIRING LARGE OVENS. 125 



BUILDING AND FIRING LARGE OYENS. 

There is nothing in a foundry that is ordinarily so illy 
constructed, and with which so much fault is found, as the 
ovens for drying moulds and large cores. Ask any moulder 
who has traveled considerably, how many ovens he knows of 
that give good satisfaction, and it will tax his memory to 
tell of more than two or three, and then if they are uot 
located so as to be in the way, or take up the best portion of 
the shop, it will be a wonder. 

When building a foundry, the locating of the oven. should 
be attended to by a thoroughly practical man, and is a matter 
that should receive much thouglit and attention, as there 
are few shops m which they can be built on the same general 
plan. Ovens should be built where they will be out of the 
vvay of doors, gangways, and green sand floors, and, if pos- 
sible, should be in that section of the shop where the loam 
and dry sand work can be done to the best advantage. In 
some shops ovens are placed so that the track has to be 
curved in order to run the carriage under the sweep of the 
crane. This is a very bad plan, as the car, when heavily 
loaded, moves hard on a curve. 

When the ground room will allow it, and the shop room 
is small, it is best to have the ovens built outside the shop, 
having the entrance even with the inside wall. 

In building ovens it is also important to know and provide 
for the class of work intended to be made or dried, as some 
work will not stand to be dried fast. Such work as large 
cores, cylinders, gears, or any fine dry-sand or loam moulds. 



126 • LOAM MOULDING. 

should be dried witli a fair, even fire, especially if the 
moulds are to be blacked dry. Such moulds as rolls, spin- 
dles, propeller-wheels, or other coarse work, will usually 
stand a hot fire. There is nothing so bad to handle as burnt 
moulds or cores, for which the poor night-watchman seldom 
escapes blame. 

Mixtures of dry or core sand, having 2)lenty of loam and 
sharp sand in tliem, will stand a hotter lire without being 
burnt than sand having flour, meal, or much moulding sand 
mixed witli it. 

For large cores that must be dried quickly, and without 
cracking or being burnt, the less flour and the more clay- 
wash used for mixing the sand, the better. 

For fuel in firing up ovens, coke is the best, and should 
be used more than it is. Hard coal is good and makes a hot 
fire, but its extra expense is an objection. It is a good plan 
to mix a little in the fire with the coke, when a very hot fire 
is wanted. Most ovens are fired witii soft slack coal, on 
account of its cheapness. It is good for drying rough work, 
but a serious objection is the soot and dirt it makes. Look 
at a moulder after he has been inside a cylinder, brushing or 
cleaning the mould, and he is so black and dirty that you 
would liardly know him. The question is, can a man in 
such a condition feel like doing a clean, neat, mechanical 
job ? A soft coal fire is not a steady fire, and it requires 
close attention to keep it going, and will burn moulds and 
cores very often. Moulds or cores blacked dry, with this 
kin~d of firing, generally make a rough surface, on account of 
the oily substance the smoke and soot leave on the face. Witli 
a coke fire, moulds or cores can be blacked dry in a neat, 
clean manner, being almost as clean when they come out as 
when they go into the oven. It makes a steady fire that 
needs very little watching ; and witli a fire basket, like the 
one shown in the cut, you need not bother the night-watch- 



BUILDING Ai^J) FIRING LARGE OVENS. 127 

man to do any firing during the night. Should your mould 
or core be burnt, you can blame no one but the man who 
fixed the fire before going home. 

If you want a good liot fire, fill up your basket full of 
medium-sized coke, and leave the drafts open. 

Should you want a slow fire the first part of the night, so 
as not to blister the green blacking, or crack open the cores, 
leave the drafts partially closed, and have the watchman open 
them in an hour or two. 

Sliould you want a slow fire all night, only have the basket 
half filled, and keep the drafts all closed. When the fire is 
renewed in the morning, shake up tlie grate bars, and run a 
bar between the upright bars, to loosen np the fire and get the 
clinkers out, and then put on more coke, and your fire will 
run all right again till night. A basket of the dimensions 
shown is large enough to heat an oven 10 feet wide, 18 feet 
long, and 8 feet high. For very large ovens, it would be 
better to have two baskets, one on each side of the oven, and 
for all-sized ovens to have extensions built, as shown attached 
to the revolving oven (in article '^ Ovens for Drying Small 
Cores"), and to have the fire basket placed in the extension. 
When the fire-places are built inside the oven, there is a large 
space to be heated that cannot be used to any advantage, 
which causes a loss of fuel. 

In arranging for the fire basket, two bearing bars are built 
into the brick walls to support the grate bars, and the bottom 
is bedded on a solid brick foundation, the front of which is 
left open, so as to admit a draft and to get out the ashes. 
The back and sides are closed up, so no cold air can get into 
the oven. What air does get in is heated, as it has to pass 
through the fire, making an increased draft and combus- 
tion. 

The top basket frame is supported by the four corner up- 
rights, which have projecting pieces cast on them for this 



128 LOAM MOULDING. 

purpose. Should any of the upright bars get burnt out, 
they can be taken out and new ones put in. 

The inside, wl^icli is subjected to the direct heat from the 
fire, should be built of fire-brick, and the whole brick-work 
of the extension should be well stayed with binders and bolts, 
so as to keep the heat from cracking it. 

This plan of a coke basket and fire-j)lace is from one I 
constructed not long ago, and it gives perfect satisfaction. 
Attached to the fire basket is a fire front not shown. The 
lug, B, is one of four that are cast on the face of the basket 
frames for bolting the front to. The purpose is to make the 
fire-place all air-tight aboye the grate bars. The front has 
two doors that can be opened for shoveling in coke. Also 
slides open opposite each space in the basket, so as to get at 
the fire. The slide or damj)er is made to close the openings, 
so that, if the thin sheet-iron outside doors, XX, were opened, 
you could see no fire. These doors do not come down w^ithin 
2" or 3" of the bottom, the space being to admit air. AYlien 
the draft is to be closed air-tight, a loose jolate is used to 
close the bottom opening, and sand shoveled against the 
joints. 

The most essential point in constructing ovens is to have 
good draft arrangements. In most ovens there should be a 
top and bottom flue opening into the chimney, with dampers 
to open and close them. It is a good thing to have a cover 
placed over the top of the chimney hole, and made to open 
and shut; and, when you want to retain tlie heat, and keep 
the oven from getting cold, shut down the cover, and it will 
save two or more hours' firing when the oven is not wanted 
for a day or so. 

The styles of fire-places nsed are various, but the two shown 
are the best that I know of. Tlie one above described is the 
best for drying a fine class of work that requires an even, steady 
fire; but where you want a strong heat for moulds that will 



BUILDIi^'G AKD TIRING LARGE OVENS. 



129 




130 



LOAM MOULDI]!?^G. 




ELEVATION OF A COKE FIRE BASKET 



stand to be dried quickly, the under flue firing oven, as shown, 
will do the best work. In this style of a fire-place tlie heat 

comes up from the bottom 
through the holes made 
in cast-iron plates. The 
plates are made 1^" thick, 
and in sections, so that 
they can be lifted by hand 
to clean out the flues. 
The oven is shown hav- 
ing the rear end open; 
also one side of the firing* 
pit, and the arched brick 
covering over the fire- 
place, by -which means the construction of the two flues that 
run the Avhole lengh of the oven can be seen. 

These flues should be built with fire-brick, and it is best 
to have about six feet of the covering of the end connected 
with the fire-place arched over with fire-bricks instead of the 
l^erf orated iron j^lates, 
so as to prevent the 
direct flame from the 
fire from getting into 
the oven, or burning 
out the plates. I 
have seen strong fires 
make these plates, at 
the farthest end from 
the fire, nearly red- 
hot. 

The cost of firing 
such an oven is ex- 
pensive, as one will burn nearly half a ton of soft himp 
coal in one night. The fire-place is built below the level 




PLAN OF BASKET 



BUILDING AI^D riRI]SlG LARGE OVENS. 131 

of the shop floor, and steps are needed to get down to attend 
to the fire. Should this pit be built outside tlie shop, it 
should be constructed so as to keep the rain or water from 
getting into the pit. 

The size of this fire-place is enough to heat a larger oven 
than the one shown. This oven shows a flat top, supj)orted 
by railroad bars, with sheet-iron plates on top of them, and 
a course of bricks over the whole, to keep the heat from es- 
caping. This style of covering I prefer to an arched brick 
top, with which there is a large space to be heated that can 
hardly ever be used. 

This flue oven would work well with a coke basket, instead 
of the coal fire-place, but would not make so hot an oven, or 
dry as quickly. Ovens could be made having a basket coke 
fire, as shown, attached to the revolving core oven, and the 
under-flue arrangement also with a coke fire. To make a 
very hot oven, both fires could be used, and for slow drying, 
either one or the other. With this combination, any class 
of work can be properly dried. 



132 . LOAM MOULDING. 



OVENS FOR DRYING SMALL CORES. 

It is very important to liave in a foundry an oven that 
will dry cores at short notice, and without burning them. 
1 have seen a large variety of core ovens, and very few of 
them were good for anything, as they would burn the cores, 
or require a long time to dry them. 

There are shops tliat have nothing but large ovens for 
drying small cores, which is all well enough as long as they 
have cores to fill the oven with ; but to fire up a large oven 
to dry a few small cores, which is often done, is a very ex. 
pensive and a slow process. 

In building ovens, the builder or designer sometimes 
seems to have thought all that was required was a fire-place 
and a space to pile cores in ; whereas, with a little more 
thought, they might have had an oven that would have been 
a success, and have cost no more than the apology for one. 

The revolving oven, shown in sectional elevation (first il- 
lustration), is round, with an upright cast-iron shaft, hav- 
ing five flanges on which to bolt plates or arms X, X, the 
shape of which is shown at B. This oven is built with an 
8" brick wall to form the outside, and a cast-iron plate for 
the top, on which is a box, Z>, to which a cap can be bolted, to 
hold the top of the shaft, the bottom of which rests in a 
cast-iron seat. 

The fire-place should be built outside of the circle, as 
shown, so that the cores will not get the direct heat from 
the fire. In building the walls, liingcs H, H, should be built 
in for hanging the oven-door to. Tins door should be made 



OVENS FOR DRYING SMALL CORES. 



133 



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134 LOAM MOULDING. 

in two pieces, so as to open to the right and left, and should be 
the full height of oven, to provide for putting cores on the 
top shelves. The chimney should have a top flue, as well as 
a bottom one, as shown at P P, and dampers in both, so as 
to throw the heat down or up, as required. When starting 
a fire both dampers should be open, and when the cores to be 
dried are on the top shelf, the bottom damper may be closed, 
and vice versa. 

This style of oven is very handy for drjqng cores that can 
be lifted by hand, and will hold and dry more cores with less 
fuel than any oven 1 know of. Should you want to dry a 
single core quick, j^ut it on the top shelf, and turn it around 
to the fire. This oven can be filled with cores, and they 
can be taken out again without going farther than the door, 
which alone is of great value to a core-maker. The size 
of this oven was about eight feet in diameter, and seven feet 
high. 

The second cut is a plan of an oven I made last winter, 
and, for a small one, I think it will be hard to beat. It will 
dry cores on the bottom as well as at the top, and in a very 
short time, and without burning them. The amount of fuel 
used is small. It is made with two doors to open right and 
left, so that cores can be put Jn and taken out handily. 
The loose bars, X, can be taken out or moved, so as to make 
room for large cores. The opening to the fire is at the back, 
so as to keep all dirt and ashes out of the core-room, and the 
heat is drawn under to the other end of the oven, and escapes 
at the bottom flue, the top flue, or damper, being only opened 
when the fire is started, so as to let the smoke out, and keep 
the oven clean from soot. 

When starting a fire, the bottom damper being closed gives 
a direct draft, as shown by the arrow. The top damper is 
made so as to close up the front, but when pulled back it 
only partly closes up the chimney. The bottom damper is 



OVENS FOR DRYING SMALL CORES. 



135 




136 LOAM MOULDING. 

made so as to close up the direct draft when the heat is 
wanted to go into the oven, as shown. 

This oven consists mostly of cast-iron plates, brick being 
used only for the fire-place, between the two bottom plates, 
for the ends of the oven, and for the chimney, which is at 
one corner of the oven. The bottom plate, or the one over 
the fire, should be made about one inch thick, to stand the 
heat. 

The hole and cover shown at ^ is used for taking out the soot, 
or what dirt may gather between the two plates. For firing, 
coke is used, which makes a good, clean, and cheap fire, and 
does not make the surface of the cores oily, as slack or soft 
coal does. 

It is hard to blacken cores dried with soft coal, costing 
time of the core-maker, and often causing rough spots in the 
castings. 



TWO WAYS OF MOULDING CROOKED PIPES 11^ LOAM. 137 



TWO WAYS OF MOULDma CEOOKED PIPES IK 

LOAM. 

The adage, '^ There is nothing new under the sun," must 
have been written more for the consolation of those who 
never tried to find anything new, than for men who have 
spent years or a lifetime in bringing to light some principle 
or invention. Literally, the adage is true enough ; but, in 
any event, there is one thing men should get credit for, and 
that is, the improvements they make on old tricks. The 
different ways there are of doing the same thing, can only be 
accounted for by men's minds traveling through different 
channels to find them. There are all kinds of old tricks or 
plans for every existing occupation, and also for many that 
are to come into existence, and in this the moulder seems to 
have been provided for as well as other tradesmen. If he 
will only hunt for them, he will be astonished at the num- 
ber stored up for him. 

The cuts here shown represent the result of two moulders 
searching for a rigging to mould or sweep up crooked pipes 
in*loam. The moulding of these pipes shows the diversity 
of minds, and the different ways different men will adojot to 
do the same job, or the same class of work. Each plan here 
shown has its special advantage as well as its disadvantages, 
which the practical man can readily see. What would be 
an objectionable feature for this job, might be a very accept- 
able one for some other job. 

The upper cut shows the process of sweeping the bottom 
and top part of the pipe separately ; also how the top or 



138 LOAM MOULDING. 

cope is rolled over, so as to be closed on the bottom 
part. 

The lower cut illustrates a jAan in which the cope was 
built so as to save rolling over, which, for very large pipes, is 
a point of considerable importance. 

In moulding the upper pipe, there are some principles in- 
volved and adopted, in order to have a good chance to finish 
the cope, and to save labor in the long run. The handles 1, 
2, and 3 belong to the bottom plate. No. 4 is a section, 
showing a part of the cross bars that are bolted to the top 
plates, between which bricks are wedged, so that they can- 
not fall out when the cope is rolled over. U E show Ihe 
end view of plates having prickers on. These plates, when 
bolted down, as shown, assist the holding in of the bricks 
under them, and the prickers can be daubed up with loam 
or a dry sand mixture to form the top joint. H shows how 
the two end cross bars are made, having prickers cast on 
them to hold the sand that is rammed between them for 
forming the flanges and end joints. 

Eor moulding or sweeping tliis pipe, a wooden frame, X 
X, having screwed to it the flanges, as seen, is used. This 
frame is first blocked up level in the position wanted, and 
then as the brick-Avork is built up, or the loam rubbed on, a 
sweep, D, the front view of which is shown at^, is worked 
along on the frame X X, so as to sweep up the mould. 

In making this mould there were no core prints, or bear- 
ings at the ends, for the core to rest on. The mould ended 
on the outside of tlie flanges, and to form the face of the 
flanges and core prints there were half-pricked plates used, 
as shown at F on the plan and end elevation. The trunnions 
cast on these plates made them easy to handle. 

When the bottom part of mould was set down to be got ready 
to cast, one of these lialf-})Latcs was set up against each end 
of the flanges or mould, and wedged uj) until the half-round 



TWO WAYS OF MOULDING CROOKED PIPES IK LOAM. 139 




1-&2 



Elevation 



JPlan 



140 



LOAM MOULDING. 



hole in the two measured correctly to answer the purpose of 
a core print, and after the two chaplets were placed, the 
core was set in, and the cope rolled over by using two cranes; 
one crane being hitched to the handles 3 and 4, and hoisted 
up, as shown, until it came on to the sand pile T, so as to pre- 
yent any sudden over-balancing. After this, the second crane 
is hitched to the upper handles, 1 and 2, and the cope 
hoisted up clear from the ground. Then by hoisting upon 
the crane, as shown, the cope is completely turned over, 
after which one crane can handle it, and place it wherever 
wanted. 

After the cope is placed truly on toj) of the bottom part of 
the mould, in doing which there can be no trouble, as the 
top ends are all open so that the moulder can put in his 
hands and feel the two joints as well as see them, two upper 
end plates, which are not shown, are lowered over the ends 
of the core and pressed up against the face of tlie upper 
flange, being held there by props, clamps, or bolts. The 
mould is then ready to be rammed up and got ready for cast- 
ing ; it being poured with two runners at the bottom, as 
shown. 

The lower cut shows a plan in which there is less rigging 
used, at the expense of extra labor required to make the 
mould. In moulding this pipe, a frame was used, the same 
as described above, with the exception of core prints being 
fastened to the flanges. When the mould was swept up the 
core prints were also formed. 

Ay shows the sweep for forming the bottom part of the 
mould, and TF, the sweep for forming the outside diameter 
over which the cope is built. The elevation shows the 
bottom half of the mould all ready for having the bricks 
built to form the cope. P P, is the iron lifting- plate, 
which, as seen in the plan, is one continuous plate entirely 
around the mould, being kept back from tlie ends of the 



TWO WAYS OF MOULDING CROOKED PIPES 11^ LOAM. 141 

core prints to allow plenty of room for the core when it is 
placed in the mould. 

1", shows a reliable way of forming a false mould or case 
for building the cope over. Sometimes the top, or false, 
mould is formed of all sand instead of as shown. After 
the brick-work of the cope is completed, it is best to cover 
it over with a plate to protect the bricks. If necessary, 
this plate can be bolted down to the joint lifting-pla^e. 
When all is ready, the cope is hoisted off by 4, 5, G, and 7, 
and the cope finished overhead. The false mould V, and 
loose sand in the bottom is then all removed, and the bottom 
part of the mould finished. 

The cores for both of these pipes were made in the ordinary 
manner ; cast-iron core arbors and plates being cast the 
shape of the pipes on which the cores were swept np with 
common core sand. When dried, the halves were pasted 
together for the lower casting, but for the upper one, the 
halves were not pasted together. 

After the joints were rubbed together, so as to make the 
core of the right diameter, the bottom Iialf of the core 
was set in the mould, and the top half w^as set on, without 
using any paste whatever, thereby saving the labor of bolt- 
ing the halves together, or using heavy straps to lift the 
core by. 

The figures on the lower cut, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, show the • 
position of the pouring gates. This casting was poured by 
having the iron drop on the top of the core, which, for 
thin castings, is better than having the casting poured from 
the bottom, in which case, by the time the iron fills up to 
the top, it is apt to be dull, and cause the top of the casting 
to be cold shut. 

Sometimes, when making such pipes, the core is made 
similar to that known as a loam core. The bottom half of 
the core is made by using an iron pricked frame the shape 



142 LOAM MOULDING. 

of the i^ipe wanted. The frame is set on an iron plate 
made also the shape of the pipe, such plate being IV' wider 
than the diameter of the core, so as to leave room for the 
sweep to work in. When forming the core, the prickered 
frame as the center j^ortion, is filled with coarse cinders or 
gravel, to take the vent off ; the frame is then wedged full 
of bricks, so as to leave room for an ordinary coat of loam 
which is swept on, and the bottom half of the core is 
formed by the use of such a sweep as is shown at W. This 
half core is run in an oven and dried, while the bottom part 
of the mould is being swept or bricked up, as shown by the 
elevation of the lower plan of making a pipe. When the 
bottom half of the mould is ready, the half core is taken 
out, and rolled over on a bed of sand ; then, by the lifting- 
hooks or screw holes provided in uhe iron core frame, it is 
hoisted up and set in the bottom half of the mould, the 
space left open to form the thickness of the casting is then 
filled up with dry sand. This leaves the bottom half of the 
mould formed as far as the making of the core and mould is 
concerned. The frame which was used for sweeping up the 
bottom part of the mould is reset, and the top half of the 
core is bricked and swept up. A thickness is then swept on 
over the top half of the core, and after the wooden flange 
patterns have been secured to their places, the forming- 
frame is then taken off, and a joint lifting-plate, as shown 
at F P, is then set on, and the cope built up. After being 
lifted off, the thickness is taken off, and the whole core is 
hoisted out, and each part being finished, is separately set 
in the oven to be dried. The closing of the mould, and 
chappleting of the core, is done in the same way as if a dry 
simd core had been used. 

Square pipes are often made after the above plan, as far 
as principle is concerned ; the ways and manner of sweep- 
ins: are often chanofcd in order to form different angles. 



TWO WAYS OF MOULDING CEOOKED PIPES IN LOAM. 143 

To make the thickness on a straight side, where it would be 
difficult for green sand to stay, often a flat loam cake is 
nailed instead of waiting for loam and pieces of bricks to 
get stiff. In lifting a cope from a square print or any part 
of a mould, where there would be danger of it breaking or 
pulling up the mould or prints. It is a good thing to lay 
some thin slabs of wood between the two parts, and before 
the loam gets too stiff or hard pull them out, and thus 
leave an open space between the core and the outside mould, 
allowing a little play when lifting off the cope. 



144 LOAM MOULDING. 



MOULDING LARGE QUARTER-TURN PIPES 

IN LOAM. 

The versatility of loam moulding, or the aptness of the 
moulder to change from one course of treatment to another, 
is generally caused by some crookedness in the shape or form 
of the casting to be made. 

The quarter-turn pipe pattern shown is a full wooden one, 
and the moulder who had it made must have well considered 
all the essential points before ordering it, as the cost of mak- 
ing such a pattern must have been considerable. As this job 
was a standard one, the full pattern would pay for itself in 
the saving of labor in mouldmg it in a short time. 

Some readers of the American Machinist will remember 
that I advocated the use of sweeps instead of patterns for 
making loam castings, and lest they may think there is a 
lack of harmony, they may also remember that I advocated 
their use when it was practicable to use them, and not under 
all circumstances. 

In the case of this quarter-turn pipe, there is not much 
more than two feet square, but would require a sweep of a 
different shape to sweej) the mould with. Some will say the 
pattern might> have been made a skeleton, or the pipe cast 
flatways by using a frame and sweep. I think, however, the 
plan shown is the most practicable. 

These quarter-turn pipes were bolted to the large pipes 
cast in green sand, the manner of moulding of which was 
shown in the American Machinist of Sept. 8, 1881. In 



MOULDING LARGE QUARTER-TURN PIPES IN LOAM. 145 

making the rigging for moulding the quarter-turn pipes, the 
bottom plate and lifting ring were cast very thick, as they 
had to carry a heavy weight. Had they been lighter, they 
would have been liable to have sprung, so as to cause the 
mould or brick- work to crack open. 

The bottom plate is set solid on iron bearings. The lift- 
ing-ring is then set on even and true with the outside edge 
of the bottom plates, after which the full pattern is set on 
and blocked up in position as shown. The brick-work is then 
built under it, using a light straight edge, and having for a 
guide the edge of the lower flange, and the inside face of the 
lifting-ring to form the bevel joint, which separates the out- 
side from the inside part of the mould. This joint also 
forms a guide to close the mould together by. 

The inside face of this lifting-ring should be well oiled 
when it is first set on, to prevent the wet loam from sticking 
to it. When finishing up this joint, it is well oiled, and 
parting sand is sprinkled over it. Charcoal blacking, wet 
with water, could be used instead of oil, to make the outside 
part from the bevel joint. Charcoal is a very light substance, 
and when the water evaporates from it, the charcoal returns 
to its original dusty state. Therefore when the charcoal 
blacking is brushed on to form a joint, the loam, as it stiffens, 
absorbs the water, leaving a tliin layer of dusty charcoal, 
which makes a joint between parts of moulds that are to be 
separated. 

When building this brick-work under the pattern, it is 
built so as to form body, or thickness of wall, enough for 
the core to be built on; and at the same time the core is built 
up 2 or 3 courses, or layers of brick, so as to hold the pattern 
in place, and to form a guide by which to set the pattern 
back to finish building the core. The outside of the mould 
is built first, and then the core. To make a joint, so that 
the outside part of the mould can be made to separate in 
7 



146 LOAM MOULDIN^G. 

halves, one half of the outside is first built, and then an up- 
right joint is made, using for a guide the parting in the 
pattern. This joint is then oiled or blacked, after Avhich 
the other half of the outside is built up. 

Some of these pipes had a branch cast on them, as 
shown. The small pricked loamed plates, E, E, E, which 
should be about two feet long, are built in with the brick- 
work for supporting under and over the branch wlien 
the pattern is drawn. When the mould is being closed 
together to cast, after one half is closed on, the round core, 
Y, is set in a round print formed about three inches deep 
in the main core. The other end of this branch core 
is bolted back against the half print, as shown. The brick- 
work is not shown on the side of the pipe. This gives 
a clear view of the wooden pattern, loam plates, and branch 
core. When the brick-work is built up nearly to the top, 
a light cast-iron ring, i), i), split in halves, is set on to 
strengthen the brick-work. The outside is then bricked 
uj) to the top, and the top joint made. 

Tlie pieces of wood, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, that are screwed on 
the pattern to hold the parts together, are unscrewed 
and taken off. The three-winged cast-iron cross, shown at 
X, lias three chains hooked in the staples, there being two 
cast in each wing, so as to give a better chance to regulate 
the lifting off. In the cut there is onh' one half ring 
shown. When the outside parts of the mould are ready to 
be separated, the lifting irons or bolts are,hitched in the three 
ring handles, B, B, B. Half of the mould is then hoisted 
a little, and should it not hang just right, lower it down and 
adjust the stirrups till it hoists level. 

The half mould, when hoisted off, is pushed around to the 
oven carriage and lowered on it, which oj^eration is repeated 
with the other half. The patterns are now drawn, and the 
moulds finished and run into the oven to dry. The two 



MOULDING LARGE QUARTER-TUR]«q^ PIPES I^' LOAM. 147 




MOULDING QUAETER-TURN PIPES. 



148 LOAM MOULDING. 

half patterns are now set back in their original places, and 
j^ieces are screwed to the outside to hold the two parts 
together. The core is now made, and with a four-winged 
cross hitched to the four handles, S, S, 8, S, the bottom 
plate and core are also hoisted on an oven carriage. The 
l^attern is drawn, and the core finished and run into the 
oven to dry. While these are drying, a top ring (not 
shown) is made to cover the top flange with. 

AVhen all the moulds are dry, tlie bottom and core 
are hoisted oif first and set level where wanted. The out- 
side halves are then placed on the bottom in their place, and 
the top covering ring set on. The whole mould is now 
ready to be bolted togetlier, which is done by bolting 
the top covering ring down to the bottom plate, the handle 
being used to bolt the two together. The mould is not 
sunk in the floor or pit, but is set up on the shop floor and 
the sand rammed up around it, a staging being used to pass 
the sand Vi\). 

When the mould is cast, the bolts in the sheet-iron curb- 
ing are taken out, and the curbing taken away. Then, 
by digging around tlie bottom of the sand, the upper portion 
will fall down. 

W, W, W, show three gates cut into the flange, and 
R the upright runner, one of which is on each half of the 
mould. A flow-off gate is on the low side of the pipe, and 
a feeder on the high side, as shown. The castings made in 
this way were good and solid. 



MOULDING KETTLES IN LOAM. 149 



MOULDING KETTLES IN LOAM. 

In the engraving is represented the common method of 
making kettles in loam. The bottom pLite X rests solid 
on three or four blocks, as shown at PP, the inside sweep is 
attached to the spindle and the bevel-joint D, the top of 
the flange and the inside of the kettle is bricked and swept 
up. After the loam has become stiff and hard, the outside 
sweep is attached, and a thickness is swept up, on which the 
flange and the outside of the kettle are formed. This thick- 
ness is generally formed with green sand, keeping the sweep 
up, so as to sweep from -^^' to J" thicker than the casting 
required. This gives the required thickness when the sand 
is sleeked. Over this sleeked surface a coat of clay wash is 
brushed and dried hard, thus making a solid surface to build 
against. To form a joint between the thickness and out- 
side, oil and parting sand are used. Sometimes, instead of 
keeping the sweep up, to allow sleeking, and clay washing 
over the surface, the sweej^ is set to give the thickness 
wanted, and after the green sand thickness is roughly swe])t 
up, a tliin coat of loam is swept upon the green sand, 
thereby forming a smooth surface. 

There is not much trouble in sweeping up a plain surface 
thickness on loam moulds with green sand, but where there 
are flanges or projections it requires time and patience. It 
is a good plan, for instance, instead, of sweeping ^^\\ the 
flange thickness witli green sand, to form it with pieces of 
brick and loam. In some instances this plan is adopted. 



150 LOAM MOULDING. 

Sometimes wooden segments are used to form the flange 
of the kettle. After putting on the thickness the joint is 
cleaned off and oiled, and parting sand sprinkled over it, 
after which the outside lifting-ring, HH, is set on, and the 
outside of the mould bricked up, as from B. After the 
thickness has been swept up, the spindle is hoisted out 
and the hole firmly bricked up. The outside being bricked 
up, it is then hoisted off by the four handles H. The 
thickness is then taken off and the mould finished up and 
put into the oven, or dried on the floor. 

In getting ready to cast, a sheet-iron curbing is set around 
the outside of the mould, and sand rammed between it and 
the brick-work, the same as in similar loam moulds. After 
this sand has been rammed about six inches above the top 
of the brick-work, a flat ])late is bedded on and wedged or 
held down by the use of an iron cross, and slings hitched to 
it and to the four handles of the bottom plate. When ram- 
ming this sand, care must be used, as it is not like ramming 
up a jdain vertical loam mould. The pounding of the ram- 
mer should be lighter the higher up it is used ; in fact, the 
upper parts do not require hard ramming. 

The lower part of the mould should be rammed solid and 
hard, as there is considerable strain there ; but for the top, 
if the sand is firmly tramped and the plate solidly bedded 
down, it will require but very light ramming. 

For running kettles moulded in this way a number of 
small grates are in general set around the top, one being 
shown at E. If run froui the bottom, such castings are 
likely not to be solid, because the iron gets dull before it 
reaches the top, and also because the dirt has a better 
chance to gatlier in lumps or streaks, thereby making 
spongy iron. Even when the casting is poured from the 
top there Avill be more or less dirt, but it will not be so bad 
as when run from the bottom. 



MOULDING KETTLES IN LOAM. 



151 




DEVICE FOR MOULDING KETTLES IN LOAM. 



152 LOAM MOULDIIS^G. 

It is very important in casting kettles to properly carry off 
the vent from the inside of the core. 

Not many years ago an accident happened to a moulder, 
an acquaintance of the author, that came near costing him 
his life and setting fire to the shop, by the blowing up of the 
mould when being cast. When the mould was nearly full 
of iron, there was an exj^losion that threw out the most of 
the iron in the mould. The trouble was in making no pro- 
vision for vent except one small tube or pipe, and the mould 
being poured fast, gas was generated rapidly, producing 
what is sometimes called fire-damp. There being only one 
pipe and lighted with shavings, the gas took fire, and running 
downwards to the gas inside the brick mould, it instantly 
exploded. 

In moulds that have a confined air space, when the gas of 
the mould is driven by the heat of the melted iron it exerts 
a pressure. This pressure, if given a good chance to escape, 
relieves itself without doing any harm. To provide a proi:>er 
escape, the bottom part of such moulds are better if left 
open ; as, for instance, in ramming up the mould, shown 
in the cut, instead of letting the curbing come down below 
the bottom of the mould, as shown at T, let the curbing rest 
on the handles, or on some blocks, so as to be up above the 
bottom of the mould," as shown at A. By this means, when 
the mould is rammed up, the underneath portion is all left 
open, and when the mould is being poured, no fears of an 
explosion from foul gas taking fire need be entertained. 

This is applicable to the casting of steam cylinders having 
one head cast in, or hollow castings that have the bottom 
cast up. Many moulders, to avoid trouble with such cast- 
ings, will fill up all the open space with dry dust or fine 
cinders. 

If a mould cannot be left entirely open around the bottom, 
there should be two pipes, or openings (the larger the better), 



I 



MOULDING KETTLES i:t^ LOAM. 153 

which will form a draft and give more chance for the gas to 
escape. 

When gases explode, the explosion is caused by heat or 
flame. Gases can be raised to sucli a tem2)erature as to 
ignite themselves, which will account for the explosion of 
moulds where fire cannot reach the vents. 

Moulders sometimes use Avhat is called a cold vent, which 
works well for some classes of green sand moulds ; but for 
such loam moulds as the one shown in the cut, they are 
not used. 

A cold vent is one where the vent pipe is led away from 
the mould to insure it against being lighted by any flying 
sparks, so as to have the vent come off without burning. 

If we can by setting fire to shavings underneath a loam 
mould or core, set on fire the inflammable gases as soon as 
they are driven out of the mould, the explosion, if any 
occurs, will be very light, and with the gases once on fire, 
and good outlets for their escape, there will be no danger. 
But should we wait until there is a large volume of gases 
generated and then set fire to them, it will be dangerous. 
7* 



154 LOAM MOULDIKG. 



CASTING ANVIL BLOCKS. 

Ukdoubtedly the heaviest castings ever made have been 
for anvil blocks. One casting for this purpose, made in 
Russia, weighed 600 tons, while in this country one has been 
made weighing 160 tons. 

■ The cut represents different ways of moulding anvil 
blocks. The main point to be considered in making such 
a class of casting is to have good, solid, ground bearings and 
a strong bottom plate, so* as to support and not allow the 
bottom portion of the mould to sink away when the weight 
of the heavy mass of iron comes upon it. 

The heavier the mass of iron the thicker should be the 
under brick- work. A body of metal that will keep in a 
liquid state for two hours should not have less than two 
layers of bricks to form the bottom of the mould, and for 
each additional hour there should be added a course of brick, 
until there are six or seven courses, which should be sufficient 
for any casting. For very heavy casting the bricks that are 
used to form the face of the mould should be good, tirst-class 
fire-bricks of a soft quality. For the bottom part of the 
mould it is better to have at least two courses of fire-brick. 

It is better to use an iron curb when ramming around the 
sides of such moulds, than to depend altogether on an earth 
or brick pit. 

For bolting together heavy anvil moulds strong binders 
should be placed under the bottom plate, as shown at XX, 
and similar binders should be placed over the top of the 
mould. To bind the mould, having large surface plates, with 



CASTING AKVIL BLOCKS. 



155 



i:iV»;«!'!^«'f"''""'""' » 




156 LOAM MOULDING. 

bolts through the handle of the plates, as shown at PP, is 
not a very practical plan, as it gives the center of both plates 
a chance to spring. 

Sometimes there is an iron cross used over the top plate, 
and, by having the lower plate handles project out far enough, 
slings or chains are hung down from the croi^s, and when 
hitched to the lower plate handles the cross is hoisted up 
until the slings or chains have a strain on them. Then 
blocking is wedged between the cross and upper plate, by 
which means the mould is held together without bolts. 

The foundation plates for building such moulds upon are 
made from 2" up to 5" thick. 

The casting of very heavy anvil blocks is generally done 
on the sjDot where they are to be used, and after they are 
cooled the block is turned over by means of wrought or cast 
iron trunnions cast into or on the block. 

The common plan of making ordinary anvil blocks is 
shown at the left-hand side of the cut. An 8" wall is built 
up to within about 6" of where the pattern begins to extend 
out, and, after a joint is partly formed, a center-plate or 
ring B is bedded on and a parting made ; then the balance 
of the mould is bricked up. The reason for using the 
center-plate is to save the work and the drying of a tliick 
wall, which must be built if this plate is not used, and also 
to part the mould, and thus afford a better opportunity to 
finish the bottom portion. 

Another plan is to build only the straight portion of the 
mould in loam, and when this is dried and rammed up level 
with the top of the brick-work, then set on the top portion 
of the wooden pattern, as shown at Y ; then ram up the 
balance of the mould with green sand. After tlie pattern is 
drawn and the green sand portion of the mould finished, the 
mould can be covered with a loam plate or a dry sand cope, 
and if it is not convenient to bolt down the covering it can 



cASTii^a a:n^vil blocks. 157 

be held down with weights. This method of moulding is 
sometimes adapted to save labor and time. 

Sometimes anvil blocks are cast open, that is, without 
having any covering or cope on them, and sometimes there 
are heavy anvil blocks cast at blast furnaces. The mould 
will be made in loam in the floor, and there dried, and after 
it is dried the outside of the mould is rammed up. When 
all is ready the anvil block is cast, there being no cover or 
cope over the top of it. 

For casting anvil blocks wanted in a hurry, time could be 
saved by making a loamed plate and having it dried by a 
fire underneath, then set this plate on a level bed down in 
the hole. The pattern could be set on this loamed plate, 
and then the entire height of the anvil block rammed up 
with green sand ; that is, j^i'oviding the sand is good 
enough. By this means the bottom would be formed with 
loam and the sides of green sand, and although the sides 
might look rough there should be a smooth bottom. 

The section of a loam core shown hanging to a section of 
the loam plate covering illustrates the way a large heavy 
anvil block was made upon which I worked about twenty 
years ago. This core was put in for the purpose of giving a 
large base with little metal. At least I think that was the 
reason. 

Another thing sometimes practiced in the casting of anvil 
blocks is to make some holes about 14" diameter through 
the brick-work, and before rr.mming up the monld place in 
bars of 1^" round or square wrought iron, as shown at H. 
Bearing on the lower rods, pig iron is piled and wedged down 
by the top bars so as to keep the pigs from floating. This 
pig iron is placed in the center of the mould to assist in the 
cooling of the hot metal. The advantage of this can, I 
think, be readily seen. It is best to have the pig iron that 
is to be placed in the mould thrown into the cupola just be- 



158 LOAM MOULDING. 

fore the bottom drops, so as to have all the rust burnt off 
from it before it is placed in the mould. In the dove-tailed 
core, Wf can be seen two holes. In a corresponding section 
of the sides of the mould there are also holes made larger 
than those in the core. When the core is set into its print 
and placed right, rods are passed through the core from one 
side of the mould to the other, and then the rods are 
wedged down by filling up the holes in the mould or brick- 
work with pieces of brick and stiff loam. 

This is a safe plan for holding down the core, and is far 
better than driving nails into the mould at the ends of tlie 
core. BE shows the bottom pouring gates, through which 
the mould should be more than half filled before any iron 
is allowed to go in through the top pouring gates A. 

The faster such moulds are filled with iron the better, and 
the iron should be on the dull side. The duller they can 
be poured the smoother the casting will be. 

The patterns for such castings should be split, or made 
in two sections, the piece Y being the top section. By 
being so divided it will give the moulder a better chance to 
make his casting. 

A nice smooth skin on such massive castings is very 
seldom obtained, and some moulders will say that it cannot 
be done because of the large body of iron staying in a liquid 
state so long. It is, however, chiefly because the loam mix- 
ture and blacking is not as it should be, rather than because 
of the heavy body of liquid iron. 



sweepi:n^g ak octagonal loam mould. 159 



SWEEPING AN OCTAGONAL LOAM MOULD. 

The sweeping of loam moulds that are not cylindrical or 
round in form calls for an entire change in the manner of 
operating, and often the moulder's skill is tested in trying 
-to invent some rigging that will work well. There are 
two or three ways to mould any casting, and that plan 
should be adopted that will cause the least risk of losing the 
casting. The plan adopted by one moulder might not be 
used by another, each one seeing different ways of hand- 
ling the job so as to insure its safety or to do it quickly. 
When speed and safety are considered and combined, it will 
sometimes require the highest mechanical ability and judg- 
ment to make them work together successfully, and to tell 
whether the moulder has adopted the best plan for mould- 
ing an intricate piece requires the judgment of a thoroughly 
practical moulder. 

It is a question if there is not more pattern-making done 
for loam moulding than is necessary. This statement is not 
made to deprive the pattern-maker of work, but to intimate 
that the less pattern-making there is done for loam work 
the better it is for the mould and casting. When there is a 
pattern used, and it is drav/n out of the mould, the surface 
of the mould presents an uneven face, full of hollows. This 
is caused by bricks being laid on top of others, under which 
the mud is not yet dry. If the loam between the pattern 
and brick is set, and cemented to the brick, when the top 
brick is rubbed and laid on, it sometimes presses the under 
one back, and, the loam sticking to it, leaves the hollows as 



IGO LOAM MOULDING. 

stated. In some cases the loam, not being set, will stick to 
the pattern, and when tlie brick is pressed back there will 
be sometimes a cavity left between the loam and brick, and 
when the pressure of the melted iron comes on it, it may 
pres3 it back so as to cause a swell on the casting ; or, 
should the air or gas confined in this cavity not find escape 
through the joints or brick, it will pass through the loam, 
or face of the mould, into the liquid iron, and cause a scab 
on the casting. The only remedy for this is for the moulder 
to use the mud as stiff as the job will allow, and lay on the 
bricks with care, and be sure they are properly pressed 
up. 

When working without a pattern this care need not be 
taken, nor time lost. Allowing there are no risks from the 
above causes, there are still other objections to the whole 
pattern, one of which is the extra work involved in finishing 
a mould with loam built against wood. The wood must be 
rubbed over with oil to keep the loam from sticking to it, 
and with the best of oil some of the loam will stick to the 
pattern, causing the face of the mould to be started and 
leaving thin flakes of loam hanging to the surface of the 
mould. Or perhaps the pattern, although well soaked in 
water before using, will expand so that some joints or por- 
tions of it will project beyond the general surface ; and when 
the pattern is drawn, it will start and pull down the loam. 
In finishing such moulds, if the oil is not all washed from 
the face of the mould, the loam put on to fill up the hollows 
will not unite well, and will be liable to scab the casting, or 
the blacking will not hold fast to the mould when it is 
poured, thereby causing blacking scabs, which are very 
aggravating to the eye, and are so thin that, if chipped off, 
the white spots will look worse than the scab, if left on, and 
what to do with them is sometimes quite annoying. When 
loam is rubbed on to the face of bricks, and then swept off 



SWEEPING AN OCTAGONAL LOAM MOULD. 161 

with a revolving sweep, or with a sweep worked by hand in 
any direction, as may be required for sweeping between 
frames or skeletons of patterns, the moulder is sure that his 
loam is packed on to the surface of the l)ricks in a reliable 
manner, and with the sweej) and fine loam he can make the 
face of the mould so smooth as to require little or no finish- 
ing with tools, which saves labor ; and not only that, but 
too much sleeking with tools is ofttimes a cause of scabs on 
castings. 

The octagonal cuts shown are the top and bottom view of 
a steel ingot mould, the elevation of whicli shows the length 
and thickness. The engravings show also the way it was 
moulded. 

Cast iron ingot moulds for standard steel ingots, such as 
are used in the manufacture of steel rails, are sometimes 
made in dry and sometimes in green sand, and the rigging for 
moulding them is constructed so as to make them rapidly. 
Ingot moulds weighing about 2,200 i^ounds, a moulder and 
a helper will make four or five of in one day. The ingot 
mould shown in engraving took over one week to make. It 
was made to cast a steel ingot for a large shaft, and may 
never be used again. It was made with the least expense of 
pattern-making and rigging i)ossible, and seems approjmate 
for illustrating sweeping that cannot be done by the or- 
dinary means ; also for sliowing a plan of gating and run- 
ning that can be used for other castings with good advan- 
tage. This casting being over nine feet long, and smaller 
at the top than at the bottom, it would not answer to drop 
the metal from the top, as in falling it Avould strike and cut 
the slanting surface of the core, and cause the casting to be 
scabby, which would condemn it. The inside of these cast- 
ings must be smoother and more regular than most other 
castings I know of. If a cylinder has a clean scab inside, it 
can be bored out, but if an ingot mould has a scab, or even 



162 LOAM MOULDING. 

a swell, on the inside of it, it is taken to the drop to be 
broken up. After the steel poured into an ingot mould is 
set, the mould is hoisted off the ingot by two staples, one 
of which is shown at P, and should there be a swell or 
scab on the inside surface of the mould, it would prevent 
the steel ingot from coming out of the mould. Should the 
scabs or swells be chipped off, the broken skin of the iron 
would alloAV the hot steel to eat into it and unite the steel 
and iron. 

The length of this casting being so gi-eat, it would not be 
safe to have run it all from the bottom gates, as the iron 
would be dull before it reached the top, causing the casting 
to be cold shut, which would also condemn it. When 
moulding it, w^e made a runner a little above the middle, 
as shown, so that when the metal running into the mould 
at the bottom runner came up to the top runner, we could 
see it by looking down the large riser D, at which point we 
lifted the iron plugFF, and the hot, clean iron then ran into 
the mould through the top runner. Should this iron have 
run into the mould before the iron from the lower runner 
reached this point, the toj:) iron would have run against the 
face of the mould, and probably have cut or scabbed the 
mould ; Avhereas the top iron, not being let in until the 
bottom was run up, prevented the top runner from forcing 
the metal against the face of the core, and, as it was iron 
running into iron, the danger of cutting the mould was very 
slight. 

The cut R shows a plan of the pouring basin, the distri- 
bution of the lower and upper pouring gates, and also the 
riser. The runners and gates were all made in cores, and 
set one on top of the other as the mould was rammed up. 
The lower gate and runner were made larger than the upper 
ones, on account of more iron having to be run in and be 
forced up to the top. 



SWEEPING AN OCTAGON^AL LOAM MOULD. 163 



Upper (p\y^ I 
JjOwer\^ I 




AN OCTAGONAL LOAM MOULD. 



1G4 LOAM MOULDING. 

When a casting is poured from the bottom it requires a 
larger runner than if poured from the top, as the more a 
mould fills up the slower the iron goes in. The iron may 
rise very fast on the start, and, before a high mould is filled 
to. the top, go in so slowly as to cause the casting to be cold 
shut. 

When moulding this ingot casting, an octagonal frame, 
X, X, the same size and form as the bottom of the casting, 
was used as a guide in building 'the foundation and bevel- 
ing joint for the outside to be guided off and on by, and 
when the bricks were laid high enough to admit of j^lacing 
a runner under the mould, as shown at J/, if, a sweep was 
fastened on the spindle, and a level bed of loam was swept 
up, and the frame X, X, laid on it and centered. After this 
the outside lifting ring S was put on, bricks built up level 
with the frame X, X, and the wooden plate B bolted on the 
spindle, about 8" above the height the mould v/as to be 
made. To get the faces of the top and bottom frames par- 
allel with each other, a plumb bob was hung from one of 
the top corners, reaching down to a corner on the bottom 
frame, and, when set right, the top was bolted tight to the 
spindle, and the outside bricks were laid. About every two 
feet loam was rubbed on and swejit off with tlie long strike, 
or wooden straight-edge F, the bottom of vrhich has for a 
guide the inside of the frame X, X. After the first two 
feet were built and loamed up, a light, handy straight-edge, 
put against the face of the mould, was used for a guide in 
laying the bricks. After the outside was built and hoisted 
off, the spindle was set back, and the core was built in a 
solid, reliable manner. Had this core been a round one, an 
8" wall would have ])een strong enough to resist the pressure 
for the lower two feet, and the rest of the way a 4" wall 
would have held it. The pressure of iron on a round 
core is the same as the pressure on a stone or brick arch. 



SWEEPING A^ OCTAGON^AL LOAM MOULD. 1G5 

If it is built right, the more pressure the greater the resist- 
ance. But to attempt to build a flat surface of stone or 
brick alone to supj^ort or withstand a pressure, either in 
moulding, bridge or house building, would be the height of 
folly. 

On account of this mould being too high to be admitted 
into the oven, it was parted as shown. The outside was 
parted lower down than the core, so as to give a chance to 
daub up and dry the joint when closing the mould ; for, 
should there be any unevenness, or a fin at this joint, it 
would condemn the casting. The top section of the core is 
lifted by two hooks JI, and the bottom section with the 
foundation plate. The arm A is for holding the top of 
the spindle steady, and Y is an iron block bedded in the 
floor, and having a seat to hold and center the bottom 
of the spindle. 

The cope or covering used was a perforated iron plate, 
daubed or rammed with core sand, and having the lifting 
hooks or staples P built in it. 

This ingot casting could be moulded by having upright 
strips of wood fastened into the top and bottom frames, as 
shown at 2, 3, 4, and 5, thus making a skeleton pattern wit^i 
which to build up the center core first, by using the hand 
sweep E between the upright frames, for a guide in laying 
the bricks and i)ntting on the coarse loam. To finish the 
core with fine loam a long straight-edge should be used, on 
account of the casting being thicker at the bottom than at 
the top. When the core is loam finished, fill up between 
the upriglit frames with damp moulding sand, in a solid 
manner, and sweep it off even with the outside, over which 
brush some charcoal wet with water, or oil, with parting 
sand sprinkled over it to make the outside part form the 
core. When all is ready, build up the outside against the 



166 LOAM MOULDING. 

thickness surface, and with the center core bolted down to 
the bottom phite, hoist off the outside. 

Should the question be asked which is the best plan by 
which to make a good casting in the least time, I should 
answer that the plan fully shown with cuts is the one I 
choose after considering all the essential points. 



BUILDIKG OR LAYIN^G BRICKS FOR LOAM MOULDS. 167' 



BUILDING OR LAYING BRICKS FOR LOAM 

MOULDS. 

• 

The proper laying of bricks is as important a process to 
tlie loam moulder as it is to the mason, since they form 
a support and outline for the inner and smoother and orna- 
mental part of his work, and to build up brick walls or cores 
so as to stand the pressure of the iron when poured into a 
mould, and also to hold together moulds and prevent them 
from cracking open when moved or hoisted with the crane, 
is a feature in laying bricks that a moulder must be partic- 
ular to do well. I have often seen loam moulds crack open, 
from no other cause than the failure of the moulder to break 
joints when building up his brick- work. The cuts J^and 
^S' show the way brick-work looks when carefully built and 
when carelessly built. S shows all of the joints broken, or the 
bricks laid as they should be, while Y shov/c the reverse. 
Some miglit say they could not break joints because they 
had not enough whole bricks to work with. This in some 
cases may be true enough ; but is it not also true that there 
are many bricks broken unnecessarily ? Some foremen wdl 
allow helpers, when stripping off a casting, to take pickaxes 
and sledge hammers, and knock down the bricks in such a 
careless manner that hardly a whole brick will remain from 
a mould. Some moulders, when requiring half or a piece 
of brick, will break whole bricks, to save the labor of stoop- 
ing down and picking up pieces. In any pile of brick that 
have been used once, there are plenty of sizes and forms to 
be found without breaking up whole ones to make them. 



168 LOAM MOULDIN^G. 

The time lost looking for every little piece of brick might be 
urged, and of course there is time lost, and the mould con- 
structing maybe delayed by stoj^ping to look for pieces ; but 
in building the next moulds out of the same pile of bricks 
it will not take the moulder or helper so long to look for the 
whole bricks he should have to build the mould in a reliable 
manner as if the pile was filled with the broken pieces ; and 
it takes as long to lay a half of a brick as it does a whole 
one. 

A loam moulder should be as careful of keeping his bricks 
whole and in good shape as a green sand moulder should 
be to keep good flasks in order to make reliable moulds and 
good castings. 

A loam moulder that takes pride in having his bricks keep 
as whole as possible, will train his helpers so that they can 
have ready for him what sizes and pieces of brick he may 
require as he goes along, and any one breaking a whole brick 
not called for should receive a reprimand from him. When 
building some loam moulds it is as essential to have halves 
and pieces of bricks as it is to have whole ones ; for as to 
halves, we are sure of having plenty of them to work with, 
and the manner in which they should be used in building 
up loam moulds is represented by the cut B, which is an 8'^ 
wall, and a section of the outside part of a cylinder casting ; 
the inside bricks that the loam is rubbed on to make its 
surface smooth, is built with the halves and pieces of bricks, 
and the outside is entirely built of whole bricks, care being 
taken that all joints are broken evenly ; on the top of every G 
or 4 courses of -the two 4-inch walls there is built one row 
of headers of whole bricks, as shown at Nos. 1, 2, and 3. 

In building a mould after this i)lan, it can be carried up 
in most cases as high as 5 or 7 feet without the aid of any 
iron plates or rings to hold the brick-work together, which 
it would bo necessary to have if nothing but pieces and a 



BUILDIKG OK LAYING BRICKS FOR LOAM MOULDS. 169 

few whole bricks had been used to build the mould with. 
If a core was being built up with an 8-inch wall, the order 
of the half and whole bricks should then be reversed from 
that shown in the cut, so as to bring the halves and pieces 
to the part of the mould that forms the shape of casting. 

There are two reasons for having the pieces of bricks next 
the surface of the mould which encounters the hot melted 
iron. The first is, that halves and pieces of bricks, when built 
in a circular form, will result in an cvener thickness of loam 
all around the mould than when whole bricks are used ; and 
the smaller the diameter of a mould, the more necessary it 
is to build this part with halves and pieces. The second is, 
that halves and pieces allow more joints than whole bricks, 
and thus afford more openings for the gases and air con- 
fined in the loam to escape through. 

When bricks are built for thick or thin casting, there 
should be a difference made regarding the openness of the 
joints, the thinner the castings the more open they should 
be, so as to allow the gases and air in the loam to escape as 
quickly as possible, in order to prevent that cold shot and 
rough skin that some thin castings have, which is more fully 
explained in the article entitled Mixtures of Loam. 

The joints of bricks are in fact best when made open in 
almost all classes of work, whenever it can be done without 
danger of having cores bursting or swelling on casting. 

There are ways that joints can be built open, and still 
reliable ; one is, after a layer or course of bricks is laid, to 
pack well all the joints with the mud that you use for laying 
the bricks with. 

The way to tie or build a square or corners of a mould is 
shown by the cut D, and outside corners like these require 
more caution when building than almost any other part of 
moulds, since the least weight or a knock will cause them to 
tumble down, if not well tied, when they are built very high. 
8 



170 LOAM MOULDING. 

The cut H shows the reason wliy some castings have been lost 
by the core giving way at tlie bottom of the mould, or at a 
])oint where the pressure of the melted iron found a weakness 
in the brick wall. The bricks were laid in this case without 
any regard to breaking joints either on inside or outside 
cores, and whole bricks were laid at random, sometimes 
going half-way around the outside, and in the next course the 
whole ones would be used to complete or make a part of the 
inside circle ; while combined with tliis unskillful and un- 
systematical mode of brick-laying, the joints or openings 
between the bricks w^ere not packed or filled up with mud 
as they should have been. If the moulder had only used 
the whole bricks he had laid at random, for building up the 
inside courses, and kept all the halves and pieces for the 
outside courses, and packed between all the joints solidly, 
he would not have had his core burst in when the pressure 
of iron came on it. 

The cut A shows the way that a casting appeared made 
with an 8' -wall, at the bottom portion JT, and from which it 
commenced to sag at the top, a 4"-wall was only built ; the 
laying of the bricks in the 4"-wall was not done in a reliable 
manner ; the joints must have been left unpacked and some 
distance apart. In looking at this casting the wonder to us 
is that the core did not give away at some point when being 
cast, so as to let all the iron run out of the mould, and it 
would most likely have done so had the core been built 
with halves and pieces ; but it so happened that it was built 
Avith a new batch of whole bricks, and the joints being 
broken well when building saved the core from bursting in. 
Why the casting did not swell at the bottom and top, was 
because of the 8"-wall at the bottom, and at the top the 
pressure was not sufficient to squeeze the core in. IF shows 
the way the casting would have looked had the core been 
correctly built by having all the joints well packed ; and as 



i 



BUILDIKG OR LAYING BRICKS FOR LOAM MOULDS. 171 



this casting shown was an actual occurrence, I could not 
think of anything l)etter to show the results of improper 
brick building, and to prove that in this, as in everything a 
moulder has to do in order to make a good casting, there is 
a right and a wrong way of working. 




JV 






^l^Fff 






H 



■4 r 






■ I I 



I 



T 



"^^r 



I I I 



T-'-rh 



^^^^^^^^^^2 



.sr 



Tmr//<'-r('^/^ 




172 LOAM MOULDING. 



VEJ^TING LOAM AND DRY SAND MOULDS. 

Loam or dry sand moulds require that some parts be 
vented more than others. There are often eastings made in 
moulds that are never vented in any shaj^e or manner. This 
is no proof that everything can be cast in loam or dry sand 
moulds without venting. There is not nearly the percentage 
of venting required for dried moulds as for green. In green 
sand moulds there is steam to contend with, wliich is not 
found in tlioroughly dried moulds. A i:)lain dry sand mould 
having 8" of sand between the pattern and flask would be 
cast with less danger of its scabbing, if not vented, than if 
there was only 2" of sand. A good body of sand in a flask 
allows the surface gases (and steam, if any) to have a chauce 
to confine themselves in the interior body of the sand ; and 
when there are no lioles or openings in the flask, it will re- 
main there, for tliere is room enough to hold the gases, and 
their jiressure will be insufficient to force them through the 
face of the mould. But w^hen there is not sufficient of sand 
to hold down the pressure of the gas, it will obtain relief by 
coming to the face of the mould, and pass ujo through 
the liquid iron, causing scabs on a casting, so that as the 
body of sand increases the jjressiD'e of the gases decreases ; 
that is, when there is no allowance made for gases to es- 
cape by venting the moulds or by the flasks having holes 
in them ; also, conversely, Avhere there is the least body of 
sand the more venting will be required. As a general 
thing, plain castings can be made in dry sand without being 
vented, when the flasks are in sections or jointed together, 



VESTING LOAM AND DRY SAKD MOULDS. 173 

as joints or sections leave openings through which some of 
the gases can escape. 

It is only in that portion of tlie surface of a mould which 
becomes lieated to a high temperature that gases are formed 
or created. The surface of a loam mould has in many cases 
a better chance to be relieved of its gases than an unvented 
dry sand mould, on account of the openings or space exist- 
ing between the joints and courses of bricks. A rod or stick 
rammed up on the outside of a loam mould will carry off 
tlie gases from a larger surface than one would rammed up 
in a dry sand mould, since the body of the loam mould is 
more porous. 

When building up brick-work for loam moulds, the joints 
can be left open more or less, so as to allow the surface 
gases to escape backwards freely. Oftentimes it is neces- 
sary to have brick-work built very solid, so that the pressure 
of the iron when poured will not burst in or out the brick- 
work or cause the casting to swell. There are different means 
used by the various shops to accomplish this, and still pro- 
vide a way whereby the gases can escape. Some will use 
straAV between the layers or courses of bricks, and others 
will build their brick-work very open, and fill up between 
all joints with cinders, rammed in solidly, using a file or 
thin piece of iron to ram with. Again, some keep a suffi- 
cient thickness of mud between the courses or layers of 
bricks, and then vent between the courses of bricks with as 
large a vent wire as will possibly go between them ; while 
again, there *are shops that will apparently build up their 
brick-work without the use of vent wires, straw, or cinders. 
Such shops generally have a very open mixture of mud and 
loam to work with ; it is very seldom that the joints of 
brick-work require to be so compactly built as not to have 
some porousness among them. A good 2)lan to adopt where 
both good venting and solid building is required, is to com- 



174 LOAM MOULDING. 

pactly fill up half the thickness of the joints with mud, and 
the upper opening with cinders. Round loam cores, such 
as are used for forming the inside of cylinders, etc., are a 
class of building that must be the most solid ; and the reason 
that such cores will stand closer building with less venting 
than the outside portion of the mould is, the core brick- 
work is not rammed up with moulding sand like the outside 
part of the mould, and the brick-work being exposed, the 
gases can escape more freely ; the more open the joints, al- 
though comimctly filled up with mud, the better chance for 
the gas to escape, since the mud used between the joints can 
be made of an open mixture, so as to be far more porous than 
the bricks used. Hard bricks sliould never be used to build 
up the face of a mould, on account of not allowing as free 
a passage of moisture and gases through them as a good 
soft brick. A good loam moulder understands what part of 
his mould re |U ires to be vented, and also what parts will 
receive no damage if not vented. It is the same when vent- 
ing loam moulds as with green sand moulds ; flat, horizontal 
surfaces, corners, projections, and flanges require to be 
vented, Avhile plain vertical sides of a loam mould can be 
built up without any provision made in many cases for 
venting. To take the gas or vent off from pockets, projec- 
tions, corners, etc., in loam moulds, the use of straw, rods, 
or pieces of ropes or strings built in with the loam and 
brick-work, are generally used. When ramming up a loam 
mould to be cast, rods or sticks are laid about every 
two feet apart, against the brick-work, and when there is a 
flange, or any part of the mould that requires to have the 
vent taken off from it, cinders are connected from them 
to the upright vent rods. Should the vents be any special 
core vents, or ones that would bd apt to make trouble if 
they get smothered, it is a good plan to cover the cinders 
with some paper, so as to keep loose sand from mixing in 



VEKTIl^G LOAM AKD DRY SAXD MOULDS. 175 

with them. For the plain parts of a mould, if cinders or 
straw are put around the mould at the height of every foot, 
the gases or vents will generally find their way out. The 
cinders or straw should be connected with the upright rods 
or vent sticks. Although venting loam moulds is looked 
upon as a small part of the work, it must be done with in- 
telligence and understanding. 



176 LOAM MOULDING. 



MOULDING ROLLS AND MAKING ROLL 

FLASKS. 

KoLLS for rolling mills are often contracted for by 
foundries that never have had any experience in their 
manufacture, and their success will depend upon the work- 
man's ability and the foreman or melter's knowledge of 
making the right mixture of iron. The castings may be 
very rough looking and nothing said about it, but let the 
grade of iron be wrong, and the growling will begin. There 
are hardly two firms that will be satisfied with the same 
grade of iron. 

I shall never forget the situation in which I was once 
placed trying to please two masters. One of these was the 
superintendent of the mills, and the other was the roll- 
turner, who had the turning of the rolls by contract. The 
turner, to a great extent, had his say as to what foundry 
should make the castings, and to get the work it was neces- 
sary to have the castings soft enough to suit liim. Occasion- 
ally the superintendent would give us a call, and want to 
know how it was that the rolls could not be made. harder so 
as to wear longer, and give us to understand that when So- 
and-So made them they lasted a great deal longer. Our only 
answer would be that we supposed they were all right, as 
the roll-turner had not said anything against them ; then 
for a while the rolls would be made harder until the turner 
would commence to growl again. 

As a general thing the purchasers of roll castings like to 



MOULDING ROLLS AJUD MAKING ROLL FLASKS. 177 

have them as hard as they can he without having the edges 
or corners chilled. 

About the first thing required in starting to make roll 
castings is to have a flask to mould them in. The style or 
shape of the flask will depend upon the way that they are 
to be moulded. The old style of moulding such castings, 
and one that a great many shops yet follow, is to have a full 
pattern for every shaped roll wanted. To make such pat- 
terns costs much time and labor, and a large warehouse in 
which to store them away. 

I am an advocate of the more modern plan of making rolls 
by sweeping them up. The cut shown is a flask intended 
for that purpose. I have seen many different kinds of flasks 
for such jobs, but the one shown has, I think, many good 
features. There is one point especially that I claim should 
be provided for in such flasks in order to make good, smooth 
castings, free from scabs, and that is to have plenty of vent 
holes cast in the flask, Avhereby any gas or steam is allowed 
to esca^ie. As a rule, there is no allowance made for gas or 
steam to escape, and if you should ask the moulder that 
designed the flask why it was so made, he would tell you 
that it was for a dry sand mould, and therefore it did not 
require any vents. 

In the end of the flask shown will be seen 13 one-inch 
vent holes, and the same in the cross bar. When making 
the roll long, f " or i" rods are inserted so as to run the 
entire length of the flask. When the mould is ready to be 
blackened the rods should be taken out. With this system 
of venting, when everything is done as it should be, you can 
rely on having a good casting free from scabs. Such vents 
also greatly aid in the drying of the mould. One trouble 
often experienced in making such castings is having to pro- 
vide for making large and small castings in the same 
flask. 



178 LOAM MOULDING. 

When the casting is small there is generally a heavy body 
of sand that the bars do not assist in holding in, wlien the 
cope is rolled over, and this hanging sand is liable to drop 
out. Again, the bars having been first made right for the 
medium-sized castings, the first thing we know there comes 
along a casting that is too large in diameter to be admitted 
between the bars. Then the bars must be chipped out. 

A good way to get over this difficulty is to make the bars 
so that as large a casting as should be made in the flask can 
be admitted between them, and then, when a sweep or 
pattern comes along that is so small in diameter as to en- 
danger the dropping of the cope, false bars, as shown, can 
have pins P, P, inserted and wedged in the cross-bar holes 
H, H. This plan will, I think, be seen to be a better one 
than driving in a lot of rods or gaggers to hold the hanging 
sand, as is usually done. 

Another point that may be noticed is the plan here shown 
of using loose plates instead of a large, clumsy back i:)late, 
and a lot of bolts or clamps. Of course a back plate would 
help to make a flask stiffer, and in the case of making extra 
heavy rolls, I would recommend its use, but for rolls 
weighing from three up to eight tons, the loose plates are 
safe. 

Sometimes roll flasks are made with the bars, sides, and 
ends all in one piece. This plan I do not approve of, as it 
not only costs more to make the pattern ; but when a flask 
is thus made, there is more or less danger of its cracking, 
and when there is a serious break, the whole half flask has, 
generally, to be broken up and a new one made. When a 
roll flask is made in sections and bolted together, there is 
only one side, one end, and one bar pattern required, and a 
flask thus constructed can be made longer or wider at any 
time if so desired. Should any parts crack, they can be 
readily replaced. The handles generally used for this class 



MOULDING KOLLS AND MAKING ROLL FLASKS. 179 




SWEEP FOR MOULDING A ROLL 



180 LOAM MOULDING. 

of flasks are cast iron, and, in order to be strong enough, 
they often look very clumsy or out of proportion. Trun- 
nions are sometimes cast on the ends of tlie flask to roll 
them over by. In the cut there are only two of the four 
handles shown. 

About the first part of a flask that gets broken through 
usage is the flanges, and often castings liave been lost from 
the flange breaking when the mould was being poured. At 
E and B, B, B, is shown a reliable plan for constructing 
flanges so as to stand the repeated strains they are subjected 
to. Y, T'are brackets that give strength to the flanges, 
while B, B, B, being level with the rest of the planed joint 
when the two parts of the flask come together, will prevent 
any straining or springing of the flanges when the bolts or 
clamps are used to hold the two parts together. The space 
of one half-inch, as shown at A, is to leave room to pack 
sand or loam between the joints to prevent any running out. 
Such flasks, after being used a few times, will warp more or 
less, and, although the joints of the flask were planed so as 
to ha¥e a good bearing, the reheating of them will soon 
make it necessary to pack them. 

To fasten the two parts together one shoj) will use bolts, 
while another will use clamps. Either way will answer the 
purpose. A bolted flask is safer than a clamped one, the 
only objection to the bolts being the trouble of unscrewing 
them, and keeping the sand and dirt from destroying tlie 
threads. The objection to clamps is the jar given to the 
mould in hammering and wedging to fasten them. 

Among the cuts will be seen measurements for the mak- 
ing of cast or wrought clamps, such as are used for or- 
dinary roll flasks. Wrought iron clamps are safer than 
those made of cast iron. A flask should have more bolts or 
clamps on the end that is cast down than on the upper end, 
because there is more strain on the lower end. In such a 



MOULDING ROLLS AND MAKIKG ROLL FLASKS. 181 

flask as shown, the bolts or clamps should average 6" apart 
at the lower end, and 8" at the upper end. 

When possible, it is best to have four or six bolts put in 
to assist the clamps. I have seen flasks, when the pins were 
taken out and clamps put on in their place, get a jar when 
being hoisted uj) on end so as to loosen the clamp and cause 
the two parts to shift. Clamps should never be all wedged 
in the same direction. Each alternate one should be wedged 
the reverse way. 

When fitting together a flask for sweeping up rolls, the 
joints, if not planed, should be chipped so as to fit closely 
together ; then the three or four pin-holes should be drilled, 
and the end bearing, IF, bored out. The spindle holder, X, 
should be accurately fitted with set screws before the flask is 
taken apart. 

I once worked in a shop where the moulders did not use 
any pins to close the flask by. They would use the bearing, 
IF, for a guide to close the lower end by, and for the upper 
end pass the arm through the riser head, and feel the joints 
of the mould. If not right, a man on each side of the 
flask, having a sharp flat bar could easily move the flask 
as wanted. Iron wedges are placed between the iron joints 
to keep the joints of the mould apart and save crushing. 
When the inside joints of the mould are even with each 
other, the wedges are taken out and the cope let down to 
place. 

The cut in which the handle is shown is for illustrating 
the process of sweeping up a roll, i^ showing an end view — 
the spindle shown is a tube with solid ends forged or cast 
on to work on the end bearings. The idea for thus making 
it was to have it light to handle. 

Sometimes instead of having a journal turned in the spin- 
dle, so as to keep it from working endways, as in the one 
shown, there are two collars fastened with set screws to the 



182 LOAM MOULDIKG. 

spindle, so as to have one on the inside and one on the out- 
side of the lower end of the spindle bearing. 

In sweeping up rolls the sand is not all knocked out of 
the flask when a casting is made, as is done when a full pat- 
tern is used. After a casting is taken out of the flask only 
tlie loose and burnt sand is taken out, or enough to allow 
of from 2" to 4" of tempered loam or dry sand being rammed 
in to sweep up a fresh mould. In ramming the sand some 
moulders use only their hands, relying on the extra damp- 
ness of tlie sand to make the mould solid enough. 

This is a plan that I do not approve of. I know from ex- 
perience that a better casting can be made by working the 
dry sand but very little damper than green sand is generally 
made. To have the mould solid, use a rammer instead of 
the bare hands. In order to have this, three or four inches 
of fresh sand adhere to the old sand, there is a coat of thin 
clay wash sprinkled over the surface of the old sand, and 
then a coating of mud rubbed over that. On top of this 
the tempered sand to form the mould with is shoveled in. 

Sometimes instead of having sand between the bars the 
space is packed in a reliable and solid manner witli fire- 
brick, and then every time a casting is taken out all the sand 
is removed, and the mud rubbed on the bare bricks, for 
starting a new mould. This plan is a good one, where a 
shop has three or four different sizes of flasks to accommo- 
date different diameters of castings ; but for a shop that has 
only one flask I would not advise its adoption, as there 
would be sure to come along some sweep that would require 
nearly all the bricks to be cut out to admit it, wiiich would 
be sure to loosen the under bricks. 

The sweep shown for moulding a roll has in it the square 
and the half-diamond-shaped grooves, such as are generally 
used in rolls. The diamond grooves are easily swept up, but 
the square ones are more difficult, and often require to be well 



MOULDIKG IIOLLS AKD MAKIN^G ROLL FLASKS. 183 

rodded in order to stand. When sweej)ing up the rolls the 
grooves and surface of the mould are swept up as full as can 
be with tlie dry sand mixture, and the surface of the mould 
is made smooth by using two coats of loam, the last one be- 
ing about as thick as buttermilk. The beveled edge of the 
board only is used for the finishing coat, which should be 
accomplished in once going around, and as quickly as pos- 
sible ; that is, the board or sweep should be turned slow and 
steadily, but putting on tlie loani with a brush must be done 
so as to lose no time. The striking off of the joints is done 
by having a straight-edge work lengthways of the flask. 

The Joint sweep, also all the roll sweeps are better for 
having the working edge of sheet iron, as when they are all 
wood they soon get worn out. The sheet-iron plates can 
be fastened on the wooden sweeps with screws, as shown 
at K. 

The templet shown is for a guide to set cores by to form 
the wobblers on the roll. At S, D, and R is shown the 
l^lan generally adopted for the gating of such castings. S 
shows the part of the roll to which the gate is attached, and 
D and M show two different forms of gates used to cause 
tlie iron to whirl around as the mould is being filled up, so 
as to bring the dirt to the center and keep it from being 
lodged under the grooves. 

Eolls are always cast vertically, and the hotter and faster 
the iron can be j^oured in, the cleaner will the casting be 
when turned up. The roll flask, and also the iron casing rig- 
ging shown on p. 217, was made by 3fr. William Fitzsimons, 
of Cleveland, Ohio, a skillful moulder, and one having large 
experience. 



184 LOAM MOULDING. 



THE SURFACE OF A LOAM MOULD. 

To have a good loam mould a good surface is essential, 
and a good surface depends upon many conditions. First, the 
mixture of the loam must be correctly made ; secondly, the 
loam must be put on in a reliable manner; and, thirdly, it must 
be finished up properly. Loam- in some foundries is mixed up 
in mills which are made by taking a large flat bottom iron 
pan, from 4' to 8' in diameter, and placing a similar pan over 
it ; and in these pans are two heavy grindstones. The pans are 
so made that they revolve the stones as they revolve, and the 
loam mixtures are shoveled into the pans with its water 
or clay-wash to wet it with ; the heavy stones rolling over 
tlie different parts serve to unite and mix them. Another 
plan sometimes adopted is to beat the mixtures of sand, 
when wet, with a rod of iron, the loam being on a wooden 
or iron bench. Of these two plans the mill is by far 
the best, in fact some shops would never think of using 
a loam unless so mixed. The different mixtures of loam 
used are many, most every shop having a different mixture. 
In some places a natural loam can be obtained — but this 
is rare ; most shops have to make their loam of different 
proportions of sharp and loam sands. There are cer- 
tain conditions or qualities that should exist in all loam 
mixtures alike. If a loam mixture which produces good 
castings in any other foreign foundry were brought to your 
shop to be used, and was handled in the same manner, it 
would be your own fault if you could not turn out as good 
castings as the foundry from which the loam came. A good 



THE SURFACE OF A LOAM M0T3XD. 185 

practical loam moulder can tell by feeling of loam when 
mixed if it will work well or not. A sharp sand is used to 
regulate the loam sand. The more clayey or loamy the loam 
sand is, the more sharp sand must be mixed in with it, 
until the practical moulder is satisfied with its consistency. 
A simple way to try a new loam mixture is to take a 
lump of it, after it is well dried, and immerse it in a ladle 
of iron. If the iron boils after the first bubble, the mix- 
ture is generally too close or clayey. Loam should be of a 
porous, but firm nature ; if it is too porous, on the other 
hand, the mixture will crumble to pieces by a gentle squeeze 
of the hand. Loam should be mixed weaker for castings 
below one inch in thickness, than for those of a greater thick- 
ness. A loam that is strong enough for a casting four inches 
in thickness, is strong enough for any heavy body or any 
thickness of iron. What is meant by loam being stronger, 
is, it is more close and clayey. A heavy thickness of iron 
will scab, just as a far lighter thickness will with the same 
mixture of loam if it is too close or clayey : the thick- 
ness for loam put on bricks, to form the surface of a mould, 
should be regulated by its form. A thin thickness of loam 
is more liable to cause a mould to be scabbed than a heavy 
thickness. Loam should not be put on any less than |" 
up to J" for plain surfaces of moulds ; but for pockets, 
corners, and flanges, etc., loam should be no less than 1" in 
thickness. Burnt or hard bricks should not be used to form 
the surface brick-work of a mould, or for corners and 
pockets, or any portion of a mould's surface that is liable to 
scab. Moulders very often use what is called loam bricks, or 
cakes, instead of using the common ordinary bricks. The 
loam bricks are used on the principle of the thlcher tJie dody 
of loam, the 'better chance for the gas to escape, and thus 
cause the iron to lay more kindly against a mould's surface. 
To make loam bricks, use a loam as coarse as that used 



186 LOAM MOULDING. 

for rubbing on the surface of the mould, and have a wooden 
frame made for whatever shaped bricks or cakes are wanted. 
Then set it out on oiled iron plate ; fill up the frame with the 
loam, having it mixed as stiff as will work easily. After the 
plate is full, the soft bricks are then set in the oven to be 
dried. Sometimes whole cores and large portions of a mould 
are formed with loam bricks. 

The first coat of loam that is rubbed on the bricks should 
be the openest, and to finish up or form the face of a 
mould use finer. Before the fine finishing coat is put on, 
the face of the mould should be swept up as full as possible 
with the open loam, as the least amount of fine loam that 
can be used, the less danger there will be of a mould scabbing. 
With most mixtures of loam it is best to have the finishing 
coat put on as soon as the rough coat becomes stiff enough to 
hold the finishing loam, and have one or two revolutions of 
the sweep to make a finished face. When the first or rough 
coat is allowed to become hard or air dried before the finish- 
ing coat is put on, it will not unite or cement as well as if it 
is put on having the rough coat as above described. 

There are two ways practiced in making finishing loam 
mixtures ; one is to use the mixture as for the rough loam, 
and have it put through a fine No. 8 sieve ; the other is to 
use some foreign mixture (for receipts and mixtures of loam, 
see notes and receipts in the back part of the book). While 
the finishing coat must be fine, its mixture should not be 
close or clayey, and it is better, if possible, to obtain a fin- 
ishing loam mixture, whereby the face of the mould can be 
made smooth enough to receive the blacking without the 
use of tools, as the less sleeking done, the less liable a 
mould is to be scabbed. This only refers to swept por- 
tions of a mould ; for othor parts that patterns are used 
for, there is more or less sleeking done with tools, that can- 
not be avoided. 



SWEEPS AND SPIKDLES. 187 



SWEEPS AND SPINDLES. 

SwEEPiN^G green and dry sand or loam moulds is a branch 
of the moulder's trade that in general calls for higher 
mechanical qualifications than making castings from a full 
pattern. SAveeping or bedding in is not extensively done in 
other than jobbing or machine-shop foundries, hence only 
a comparatively few moulders are acquainted with the pro- 
cesses ; but since the practice is becoming more common 
from year to year moulders will be required in the future to 
give more attention to this part of the trade. 

In the cut is shown a rigging for sweeping under the 
bottom of loam cores. The sweep, seen at the left, is 
bolted to two iron arms X, X, which are held up by two 
collars fastened to the spindle with set screws. The 
sweej^ revolves around, and the spindle remains stationary. 
The tapering end of the spindle is set into the casting H, 
the outside diameter of which can be from 4" up to 8". This 
casting should be turned up on the outside, true with the 
chilled inside spindle hole, so as to have a true surface for 
the lower arm and collar to be placed and worked at any 
point up or down on it. This casting is bolted to a plate 
from four to six feet diameter, and the plate is laid level on 
a solid floor. The loam plate is then set on top of the 
spindle-holder H. Bolted to this loam plate is a casting 
having an upper and a lower flange. In the upper flange 
there are four staples cast, two of which are shown at E, E. 
The inside of this casting is bored out the size of the spindle, 
and when bolted to the loam plate, as shown, and the 



188 LOAM MOULDIN"G. 

spindle passed through it, there is no danger of the loam 
plate being overbalanced. Another plan, which would in 
many cases be better than to bore out this double flanged 
casting the size of the spindle as shown, would be to cast a 
hole in it about one inch larger than the size of the spindle, 
and by having three set screws near the bottom, the top 
could be fastened with pry wedges. By this plan there 
would be a better chance to regulate and level loam plates, 
and also it admits of the spindle being put in and removed 
more easily. 

Before setting this loam plate on the standard H, it is 
daubed up with loam even with the face of the prickers, and 
then dried in the oven, so as to have a dry body to absorb 
the moisture of the loam used to finish it up with when the 
plates or bottom is swept up as shown. 

Wlien this spindle-holder or standard is used it is generally 
for a large core that has little or no bearing on the bottom of 
the mould, but has to be supported from the top as in the 
cut. Tlie top loam and covering plate is not set on and 
bolted to the lower plate until the core and a level joint is 
made and finished with the sv/cop. This top plate having 
been previously swept level and dried, requires no sweeping 
to make it have a true face after it is placed. 

After this plate is bolted with four bolts, one only of 
which is seen, there is a row or two of bricks, P, built 
around on top, and a sweep forms a straight face the same 
diameter as the one swept on the outside or cheek W, so that 
when the core is lowered down into the mould, a sliort 
straight-edge placed against the parallel faces P and W, 
will center the core in the mould. 

Tlie staples E, E, and A are for hitching the chains to 
hoist the core by. The top staples, of which there are four, 
are the best to hoist by, but should the mould or core be less 
in height, the lower staples can be used. When the core is 



SWEEPS Al^J) SPINDLES. 



189 




,.. , r . ' ..•t^'.... rL^ ...-.' '.•■'■.■■•■■ •.■■ ' ■■■•..■■••■• . r 'l ■■••■ •. ' !- ' . ' ■ ' ..•■• ••.' '. 

U•:^■••••v:•^■"••V.%n•:•;^•.:.■.;;•:^•.:;^•v:.;:^^•;^^••.; vv%\V';^ ;..••.••:.■.•..'■•.;•.•.•.••;..,•.•.:.,•.;.•..•.;••. 



190 LOAM MOULDING. 

finished and hoisted up from the standard H, the hole that 
it leaves in the bottom is filled up and made level with bricks 
and loam, apiece of plate iron having been first wedged in up 
against the spindle hole,so that the j^ressure of the melted iron 
cannot burst through the bottom when the mould is poured. 

When setting this core on the carriage, the bottom is 
lowered down on a flat plate having on it a bed of dry sand 
for the bottom to rest on. 

For other classes of work, where all the bottom is not 
wanted, a false ring or spider having a hub 6" long with a 
hole bored equal to the outside diameter of H, with an inside 
flange which is for resting on the top of H, could often be 
used to a good advantage as a supporter for loam rings, etc. 

This rigging, for a jobbing shop that does much loam 
work, can often be used to a good advantage for casting 
short stroke cylinders that have one of the ends cast in, as 
it is now often done ; by the plan as shown the bottom 
could be cast down, if desired. 

To form a riser head on a cylinder when this plan is used, 
the top flange is bricked over and the straight part of the 
cylinder carried up as high as wanted. When making a 
cylinder this way the outside should be cheeked off, and when 
the cores are set in and fastened, the center core is lowered 
in. A man with a lamp underneath can guide and see that 
the center core does not touch any of the port cores. Then 
the whole mould is set on the bottom by hoisting it by the 
four cheek handles, one of which is shown at T. This bottom 
joint should be made beveling, instead of straight, as shown. 

The gate shown is for filling the bottom over so that 
when the iron drops down from the top it will fall into iron 
and not cut the bottom of the mould. 

The cuts Y and R show two styles of arms, i? is a style 
that can be worked tight or loose. When tightened on the 
spindle by the set screw shown, the spindle must revolve ; 



SWEEPS AND SPINDLES. 191 

but when there is a collar screwed to the spindle, as shown 
at D, D, the arms are loose and can revolve without turning 
the spindle. 

The latter is the best plan when sweeping with a spindle 
that works in a tapering hole long enough not to require 
steadying at or near the top ; but when a spindle is held at 
the top, and the bottom works in a small socket, as shown 
in the octagonal loam mould cut, there is very little fric- 
tion, so tiiat the spindle can be tur»ed when sweeping very 
easily. 

The arm Y is a very handy one to use on a spindle that 
is made to revolve in sweeping. This arm can be made for 
one or two keys, but it is best to have two in one to be used 
for holding heavy sweeps. The advantage of such arms is 
that they may be taken off and on without disturbing a 
spindle held at the top. 

The placing of arms or brackets for holding the top of 
long spindles steady, is an important detail that is very sel- 
dom properly attended to. There are very few buildings 
but that whenever a crane is turned around will move more 
or less, and in some shops the loam moulder when sweeping 
up a long mould has often to sit down and wait until a 
crane can be turned back the same as when the first coat of 
loam was swej^t on. Arms or brackets should not be 
fastened to unstable buildings, but should be secured to up- 
right timbers sunk deep in the ground, and independent of 
the building altogether. The board or sweep bolted to the 
arm R, is to show how arms should be made. There are 
shops that have arms made so that a sweep when bolted to 
them will not have the working edge, S, on a true line with 
the center of the spindle. This causes trouble in setting the 
sweeps and getting th<3 right diameter for a casting. 

In making spindles they should be made even inches 
diameter, otherwise they are apt to cause mistakes in making 



192 LOAM MOULDING. 

and setting sweeps. I'i" 11" ot 2-k" makes trouble for the 
moulder as well as the pattern-maker, as it is apt to confuse. 
Two inches diameter makes a liandy spindle for ordinary 
sweeping, and for line work they should be made of steel, 
turnod up true. The larger sizes of spindle are often made 
of v>'rouglit-iron tubes, or of hollow cast iron. 

The spindle-holder for sweeping green sand moulds, that 
has been shown so many times, but never explained, is a 
flat plate about 24" diameter, and the tapering hole for the 
spindle to fit into is about 10 inches long. When casting 
this, the tapering end turned on the spindle can be used for 
a chill, being set in the open mould and the iron poured 
around it. While hot the spindle is knocked out, and when 
put in again, to use for sweeping, you can rely on having a 
steady spindle. The collars should be used on this spindle, 
so that the arm and sweep can revolve without having the 
spindle turn. This makes a very handy rigging for sweep- 
ing green sand moulds, as the spindle seat or holder is light, 
and can be quickly set in any part of a foundry floor. 

The tapering end of this spindle should always be well 
oiled before it is set in, as otherwise the damp sand and 
steam are liable to rust it. 

As the sweeping of green sand mould is generally done to 
save pattern-making, the proprietor, as well as the moulder, 
has the advantage over others when he can make a casting 
with sweeps that others could not make without having a 
full pattern to work with ; and in cities or places where com- 
petition is active, a good knowledge of sweeping, in all its 
branches, will be of value to the proprietor and moulder alike. 



MOULDIKG GEAR WHEELS IN DRY SAND. 193 



MOULDING GEAR WHEELS IN DHY SAND 
OR WITH CORES. 

To have smooth, even teeth is a very important feature 
in the manufacture of gear wheels, and the only reliable 
way to make good teeth on large wheels is to have them 
moulded in dry sand, or with cores. In almost any wheel 
made in green sand the teeth will be larger tlian the pat- 
tern, as the sand will yield more or less, depending on the 
way it is rammed. Although there can be nice-looking- 
gear castings made in green sand, the same pattern moulded 
in dry sand will make a casting that will run easier and 
quieter, and wear longer. A variety of sjiur wheels could 
have the arms and hub moulded in green sand, and the 
teeth in cores, or dry sand, by having an iron ring or flask 
to carry tliem, so that the teeth could be hoisted and placed 
on tlie oven carriage to be dried. If there is not a full pat- 
tern to mould the wheel ])y, a segment could be used the 
same as is shown for sweeping up gear w^hcels in green sand. 

The sand should be closer and tougher for ramming up a 
spur wheel than for ramming or bedding in a bevel wheel ; 
and should the same close sand be used for the bevel as for 
the spur wheel, the teeth will be very liable to scab. Dry 
sand in this respect is the same as green sand, as the sides, 
or any part of a mould that the iron rises up against, will 
stand harder ramming, and will require less venting than 
the bottom, or any part that the iron lays over, or on the 
top of. It is a good thing that this law or principle is as it 
is ; for if the sides had to be rammed as soft, and tlie sand 



194 LOAM MOULDING. 

left as open, as is required to keep the bottom or flat sur- 
faces from scabbing, the side of some moulds would fall 
down, or cause a deal of extra rod-staying and other precau- 
tions to make them stand. 

A very essential point in making gears in dry sand is to 
blacken tlie teeth, so that they Avill be smooth, and not show 
streaks, or lumps of blacking on them. In bhicking teeth 
the blacking should not be thick, and, if a swab is used 
in order to quicken the operation, it should only be used 
for the first coat, and a camel's-hair brush substituted for the 
second and third coats. To make a good job of blacking 
requires neatness and care, and a moulder that takes a swab 
and pastes on the blacking, washes or knocks off the edges 
of the teeth by rubbing the swab against the mould when 
there is hardly any blacking on it, and then attempts to 
finish or patch the teeth by the use of tools, will make a 
very poor job. Teeth should be blacked with much care, 
and so smoothly that it is not necessary to touch a tool on 
them ; for if a good job cannot be done with a brush, it 
cannot be remedied with tools. 

There are very few shops that mix their dry sand or loam 
alike, for the reason that they have different grades of sand 
to deal with. A suitable mixture of oi:)en'and close sand to 
form a loam, or dry sand, that will stand the fall and wash 
of the iron without scabbing, is generally arrived at by ex- 
perience, although there are ways of telling whether new 
mixtures will work right, which I will discuss at some 
future time. Take any dry sand-facing mixture that works 
all right on ordinary castings, and mix it a little closer ; 
put in one part of sea coal, coke, or blacking, with from twelve 
to twenty parts of sand, and it will help to make the sand 
peel, assist in making smooth teeth, and give them a good 
color. 

This cut shows a good plan for making gear wheels with- 



MOULDING GEAR WHEELS Ijq" DRY SAND. 



195 




196 LOAM MOULDING. 

out a pattern, the teeth being formed from cores made in 
the core box, as shown. In the box is seen the cast-iron 
core frame, rods, hfting hooks, and spike nails for holding 
the teeth. The face of the box X is made to be taken off, 
to allow of drawing the remainder of the box without break- 
ing the core. There is a shrouding on the top and bottom 
of the teeth, Avhich is formed in the same box. 

There is a tooth sometimes used in gearing that is the 
largest at the pitch line, so that it cannot be drawn out of 
the sand flatways like the one shown. For such teeth the core 
box has to be arranged so that the teeth can be drawn out 
endways before the core box is drawn off ; and to form the 
top shrouding there Avill have to be separate flat cores made. 

The arms of the wheel shown in the cut were made or 
formed of cores dried in the oven. Tliey could have been 
made in green sand, but it was safer to make them of dry 
sand, as there was a deep strengthening rib all around the 
center of the arms. In moulding or forming this wheel, 
strike off a green sand level bed, and if the cope is a wooden 
one that needs gauging, make tlie level bed hard, ram the 
cope up on it, soften it up again and finish it ready for 
setting on the cores. Then, with the sweeping board at- 
tached to an upright sj^indle, strike a mark around on the 
b*ed the diameter of the inside of the teeth ; raise up the 
sweep so as to clear the top of the cores, after which set 
around the teeth cores, using the sand mark for a guide. 
When these are all set in their places, screw a strip of 
wood on the sweep that will come down and clear the inside 
of the teeth. In sweeping around with this you can see 
whether the cores are exactly true or not. There are two 
things that will have to be w^atched closely in setting the 
teeth cores. The first is to have the cores set in a true 
circle, and the second is to have the teeth where the 
cores join together the same size as otherwheres, in doing 



MOULDING GEAR WHEELS IK DRY SAND. 197 

which a pair of calipers are useful. It takes time and pa- 
tience to get the cores to come exactly right, and they may 
require to be moved several times to get them so. The 
circle may be right and one of the joints wrong, to remedy 
which the circle must be made smaller or larger. 

In making the core box there are two ways of splitting 
the tooth, as shown at D and //. D is the best way to make 
the cores, and H the easiest to get at the joints of the cores 
when set in the mould for the purpose of blacking and 
drying ; which should be so nicely done as not to show in 
the casting in the least degree. 

After the inside joints are daubed, close or daub up the 
outside joints with mud ; ram up the space between the 
bank and the outside of the teeth cores with sand, so as to 
keep the cores from being forced out of their places when 
the iron is jioured into the mould. The level bed for set- 
ting the cores on should be sunk below the level of the floor 
to the same depth as the face of the wheel, and after the 
cores are rammed around, go round with the sweep and see 
if the cores have been moved. If they are all right, take 
out the spindle and sweep, and set the center core in 
the print formed by the sweep. After this is done, set in 
the arm cores, dividing them with pieces of wood — two for 
the arms and two for the rim. When all is right, put on the 
cope, and secure the arm' core vents before pouring. 



198 LOAM mouldi:n^g. 



MAKING RETURN, ELBOW, BRANCH, AND 
T-PIPE CORE ARBORS. 

The making of crooked pipe castings is generally expen- 
sive compared with the cost of making straight pipes, the 
principal feature that increases the cost being the cores. 
The lower cut represents the making of a core for hot blast 
return pipes, the plan being that of Homer Hamilton, of 
the firm of William Todd & Co., Youngstown, Ohio, to 
Avhom I am indebted for permission to illustrate it. The 
old plan of making these cores was to make them in halves 
and paste them together, the halves being made in a wooden 
core box, or swept up on plates. Sometimes these cores 
were made in two sections and butted together at R. When 
set in the mould in Avhole, the core irons would usually con- 
sist of wrought-iron rods, spliced so as to lap by each other 
three or four feet, and to get them out of the casting re- 
quired time, and a good deal of pulling and twisting. Some 
shops, for such jobs, would cast some light bars, one being 
in each half, and break them to get them out of the 
casting. 

The core bar shown is all cast iron. The straight lengths 
are made as at F, which shows the end view of the bar, and 
also the core box having a core in it. The round holes 
represented are the vents. The core bar at the rounded 
end of the cut is also cast iron, being made of short links 
held together by having the projection X set into an open- 
ing, or between two lugs, E, E, and the rivet passed through 
and riveted. These links have also a guide, F, F, cast on 



RETURN, ELBOW, BRANCH, AND T-CORE ARBORS. 199 

them, so as to let the links bend inward as far as required. 
If it were not for these, when the arbor was set as wanted, 
on attempting to hoist it up the two sides would close to- 
gether. For holding the other ends of the straight arbors 
stiffly in place the ai-m W is used. The holes are for the 
vent rods to pass through when making the core. This arm 
is put on when the arbor is put together, and is not taken 
off until the pipe is cast. The straight arbor on the right 
is joined and fastened to the end link by two hooks and a 
center-pin. T^he hooks and pins are attached to the straight 



C^ 











UXl— 



arbor, detached views of which are shown at B and FT. At 
D is shown a side view of the center-pin and one of tlie 
hooks, and at ^the end view and the sides of the arbor the 
hooks are bolted or riveted to. These hooks and pin fit in 
holes drilled into the end of the last link, and when taking 
the arbors out of the casting the set screws are loosened and 
the arm If taken off. The pipe casting is then hoisted up 
and pounded with sledge hammers until the sand is nearly 
all out, then the arbor on the right is given a turn in the 



200 



CORE MOULDING. 




— 3 



(T — - 




MAKING CORE ARBORS. 



proper direction when it 
will drop out. With a lit- 
tle more hammering the 
links and straight arbor 
that are connected v/ill also 
drop, the time and labor 
not being one-third of that 
required when wrought or 
cast-iron rods are used. 

In making this core, the 
iron core box is first oiled 
with cheap black oil, over 
which a coat of thick 
blacking is brushed on to 
insure the core against 
sticking in the box. The 
core sand is then put in to 
make a bed for the arbor 
to lay on, and after the ar- 
bor is bedded down solidly, 
the core is rammed up to 
the level of the box. The 
long vent rods are then set 
in their places, and to con- 
nect the vent of the round- 
ed ends with the straight 
vent rods, a band or loose 
rope of straw or hay is laid 
around against each side 
of the links, so as to come 
about one foot into the 
straight part and have 
them lay over the vent 
rods. Sand is then put 



RETURN, ELBOW, BRAKCH, AND T-PIPE CORE ARBORS. 201 

on, and a piece of a box about two feet long, an end view of 
which is seen at Y, is placed on top and the upper j^ortion 
of the core is rammed up. 

The small sweep Tis used to shape the part left ojoen, 
and through which the sand is shoveled in and rammed. 
Tliis section, or upper box, is then drawn and replaced until 
the whole top part is rammed up. For the round end there 
is a short, circular box used. 

The top half could be formed with a sweej), but ramming 
it in these boxes makes a more solid core. 

The core, wlien dried, is set into the mould by four 
screws, screwed into the core arbors at 2, 3, 4, and 5. 

The principle involved in the construction of this core 
arbor can be adapted to many other purposes besides making 
pipe. 

Tlie upper cut, showing wings cast on a core arbor, repre- 
sents two ways of making cast-iron core arbors for a large 
number of T, branch, or elbow pipes, using the same core 
arbors. 

As a rule, such castings are made with dry sand cores, 
and if a cast-iron core rod is used, it has to be broken in 
pieces to get it out of the crooked casting. 

With an arbor, as shown, the cores can be made of green 
sand, and the arbor taken out of the castings without break- 
ing it. 

The cut shows the arbor for moulding a T-pipe. The sec- 
tion through A B shows the branch part connected with the 
main or longest section of the arbor. K shows a wrought- 
iron square bar, one end of which is wedge-shaped. Under- 
neath this wedge ])ar is a flat wrought-iron bar, one end of 
which is bent and cast into the arbor, as shown by the dotted 
lines. In this bar a countersunk hole is j^unched hot, as 
a hole drilled out would have a tendency to weaken it. 
Through this hole a bolt or rivet is placed and cast into the 
9* 



202 CORE MOULDING. 

arbor, as shown at aS'. When taking the arbor out of the 
casting, the wedge bar is knocked in, when the arbor will 
drop ont. 

The cut showing a dovetail is a plan generally used to 
hold sections together. A hardwood wedge is driven into the 
oj^ening U, and when the pipe is cast the heat will loosen 
the wedge and free the arbor. If either of these plans are 
not thought to be firm enough for very heavy cores, the 
dovetail and bar wedge could be combined so as to make a 
very stiff joint. Lengthways the dovetail should be quite 
tapering, so that when the pipe is rolled over, the wings on 
the arbor will allow it to drop sufficient to permit the dove- 
tails to be pulled apart. 

The cut and description of the complete arbor is not 
taken from any arbor, so far as known, in nse; but the plan 
is one that I think would work well and be an improvement 
on the old dovetail arbor, which sometimes causes trouble 
by getting loose. 

In order to make this class of work fast, it is as necessary 
to have good flasks fitted up specially for the work as it is to 
have good core arbors. The flasks are better if made en- 
tirely of iron, as they can be cast to suit the shai^e of the 
casting wanted, thereby saving much of the shoveling and 
rammino; of sand. 

If the flasks are made of wood, the ends should be iron 
having half-circle holes, so that the round flanges at the 
ends of the core arbor will fill them, making a bearing of 
iron on iron to hold the core up and down at each end. 
The flanges of the arbors should be no larger than tlie 
wings which hold the sand, for if larger, the arbor could not 
be got out of the casting. 

The ends of the core box should be made the same size as 
the flanges of the core arbor, then when the arbor is set in 
the box to make the core, these flanges will have a bearing on 



EETUEN, ELBOW, BRAKCH, AND T-PIPE CORE ARBORS. 203 

the ends, thus centering the arbor, and when the core is set in 
the mould the thickness will be equal all around. A half -core 
box is generally used for making the bottom in green sand, 
and the top portion is swept up ; or a half-core box is set on 
the top, having the upper jDortion cut out so as to ram the 
sand through, as shown at Y. Lighter pipes, as a general 
thing, are made when green sand cores are used, than wlien 
dry sand cores are made in halves and pasted together. Of a 
lot of pipes made with dry pasted cores, the number that will 
have true round holes in them will be very small while; a lot 
made witli green sand cores, made with a top and bottom 
box as described, will be found to have holes of the same 
diameter, and round. 



204 LOAM mouldi:ng. 



MAKING HAY ROPE LOAM CORES. 

Hay, or straw, is wound around a core barrel for the pur- 
pose of Tenting the core, and allowing the barrel to be re- 
moved. When iron is poured around a hay rope core, it 
burns or chars the rope before the casting gets cold, thereby 
releasing the barrel so that it may be drawn out. With very 
large castings it is necessary to hoist the barrel out as soon 
as the iron is cool enough, for if left in till the casting is 
entirely cold the contraction of the casting will make it a 
hard job to get the barrel out. The rope also assists in 
holding the loam from dropping off the barrel. 

In starting to put on the rope, tie the end with wire 
passed through two of the vent holes, and Avhen the barrel 
is being revolved the moulder should keep the rope as tight 
as it will stand without breaking, so as to take all the stretch 
out of it. If the rope is put on slack, it will be impossible 
to sweep up a true, solid core. 

When a core is large in diameter, it is best to have the 
rope pounded with a wooden maul as it is wound on the 
barrel. This will help to take all the stretch out of it. 
Should the rope break at any time while putting it on, take 
the end and let the barrel be turned back a little, thin out 
the broken ends for about a foot, twist them around each 
other and pound the splice so that it will not be any larger 
than the rest of the rope. 

To fasten or secure the end of the rope when the barrel 
is covered, drive some nails through it and into the strands 
next to it. In putting tlie rope on the barrel, the barrel 



MAKING HAY ROPE LOAM CORES. 205 

should be turned in the same direction it is to be turned 
when the loam is swe2)t on. 

When there is an offset or shoulder to be made on a core, 
or should the barrel be so small that one thickness of rope 
will leave too much loam, there can be another thickness of 
rope put on over the first. When doing this it is best to 
rub on some loam over the first layer of rope, so as to make 
a solid bed for the second layer. The first coat of loam that 
is rubbed on the rope should be very clayey and tough, and 
made so that it will work in between the joints and stick to 
the rope. If this first coat is not made to fill up all the 
joints and holes, the result will be a swollen or uneven 
I casting. 

It is also necessary to take a brick or block of wood and 
press it hard against the loam while the barrel is being 
turned, and if not sure that all the cavities are filled, it is 
a good plan to take a ^ inch or j| mch round iron rod and 
press it between the joints while the barrel is being re- 
volved, and then fill up the crevices with loam. After this^ 
take the brick or block to lay all the loose hay flat, and make 
a solid surface for the second coat of loam, which should be 
put on so as to leave about | inch for the finishing coat. 
The second coat should be used as stiff as it can be worked, 
to prevent bagging. 

It is sometimes best to use the sweep in putting on this 
second coat, so as to make an even surface for the finishing 
coat. As a general thing, the finishing coat cannot be put 
on until after the barrel has been run into the oven and 
dried. 

When dry and hot take it out of the oven, set it on the 
horses, as shown, and rough up the core with a brick so as 
to break the skin, to take the smoke black off. Take a 
brush and wet the surface slightly just before putting on 
the finishing coat. This coat should be put through a No. 



206 



LOAM MOULDING. 



/^ 



8 sieye, mixed tliorouglily, and enough put on tlie board or 
sweep to complete the core. When all is ready, take both 
hands and rub on the loam while the helper is turning the 

barrel. The barrel should never 
be turned fast. When turned 
once around, make the balance 
of the loam thinner and go 
around again. As the circle is 
completed, pull back the board 
endwise while the barrel is yet 
in motion. By doing this no 
mark will be left on the core. 

If you can finish the core in 
two revolutions, it will be 
smoother than if it takes four or 
five revolutions to do it. If 
there should be any rough places 




w 



ph on the surface, instead of using 

o 

^ a trowel, use a smooth, hard- 

•< wood block to smooth them with, 

dampening them with water and 

loam, and rubbing with the block 

till smooth and level. 

If the core is large in diameter, 
it is best to keep the barrel turn- 
ing slowly until the loam is set 
enough so it will not sag. If 
the barrel is stopped when the 
board is taken away, the core is 
apt to be out of round. In turn- 
ing the barrel, never turn up 
against the sharp edge of the 
sweep, but towards the beveled portion, as shown. The 
thicker the casting, the more body or thickness of loam 



MAKI]!fG HAY EOPE LOAM CORES. 207 

there should be over the ropes, especially if the iron is 
poured hot. When there is not enough loam oyer the ropes, 
the hot iron heats through the loam and burns the rope 
while tlie iron is yet liquid, and the iron will strain into the 
soft open j)laces, and the casting will have lumps on it. 

To make a casting one inch, thick, the core barrel should 
be about three inches smaller than the finished size of the 
core. This will allow 1^ inches on each side of the barrel 
for rope and loam. The size of rope should be about J of 
an inch, which would leave f of an inch for loam, f of an 
inch of which should be left for the finishing coat. For 
castings about 2 inches thick, 1 inch thickness of loam 
will be safe. 

During the war a firm in this country cast heavy cannons 
by coring them out, to save some of the boring and make a 
stronger cannon. The cores were swept u]) on a barrel, and, 
instead of using hay rope, they used ropes made of hemp. 
There were coils of small water-pipes in tlie core barrel, and 
cold water was kept running in them to keep the core barrel 
cool. 

To make an even, strong hay or straw rope requires some 
practice, and the longest hay should be selected to make it 
hold together. 

The cut D shows a simple rope twister. Some use rope 
twisters made on the plan of a carpenter's bit-stock, which 
makes a handy tool, and B shows the barrel mounted on 
horses, with the screws for gauging the diameter of the 
core. H is an end view of the same. All core barrels should 
be well supjolied with vent holes. Under 8-inch diameter 
they can be made of wrought-iron tubing. For small cores 
the hay can be put on the barrels without making it into 
ropes, as only a thin laying of hay is required. The same 
mixtures of loam that is used for brick loam work will gen- 
erally do for this class of cores. 



208 LOAM MOULDING. 



BLACKING AND SLEEKING LOAM AND 
DRY SAND MOULDS. 

The poor quality of the blacking is generally the excuse 
made by many moulders for scabbing and for poorly peeled 
castings. Sometimes such excuses are just, but in a great 
many cases the moulder who uses the blacking is the only 
one that is to blame. There are very few moulders that 
know how to mix blacking correctly, and sleek or finish 
a mould properly. At the present time the peeling of cast- 
ings does not depend so much on the mixing of the blacking 
as it did fifteen or twenty years ago. In those days, when 
we bought blacking, we generally received it unmixed with 
resin, soap-stone, clay, black-leads, and. minerals, etc. It 
was sold as ground, and free from the hard coal, coke, 
black-lead, soap-stone, or charcoal. When we ordered heavy 
blacking, we received a barrel of pure ground Lehigli ; to 
this most every moulder had his own secret percentage of 
black-lead and charcoal, that he would mix with the Lehigh, 
when mixing his blacking in some unobserved place. At pres- 
ent we have only to go to the prepared barrel of blacking, and, 
as we do not know how much lead, charcoal, or anything 
else there may be in it, we take it from the barrel just 
as it is, and mix it. In those days an experienced loam 
moulder could tell at sight of a newly opened barrel of 
blacking whether it was good or not ; but now blackings 
are so mixed it is a hard matter to tell what it is until we 
try it. There is a way we can get some idea of tlie merits 
of blacking before that we put it upon our moulds. When 



t 



BLACKING AND SLEEKING MOULDS. 209 

mixing up blacking, before it is thin enough to use, take a 
small ban of it, and dry it in the oven, and when dry see 
if it can be rubbed so as to make a dust easily; or, when the 
blacking is mixed up in good order, take a small core and 
black it over with it ; when this core is dry, try to rub off 
the blacking with the hand, and then if it does not rub off 
easily, and seems to iiave a firmness about it, the blacking is 
generally satisfactory as far as the manufacture is concerned. 
There is such a thing as having the blacking mixed too 
strong, so as to make a poor mixture of blacking appear 
firm and solid when upon the mould ; but when the casting 
comes out, it is blackened, scabbed, or the casting does not 
peel well. Ingredients can be used to Avet and mix a black- 
ing having nobody in it, and yet it willappear very firm and 
strong when on the mould ; but a trial test of blacking 
should be made by mixing it with a mixture of weak mo- 
lasses or clay, water or beer, in order to decide upon its 
merits before using it. When a blacking can be brushed 
or rubbed off from the surface of moulds no one need 
expect to see the casting peel very well. When a blacking 
is so hard that we cannot scratch its surface so as to raise 
any dust, it is then mixed too strong, and it is very apt 
to seal) or boil off when the iron comes in contact with 
it. Strong blacking is a good deal like the surface of a 
green sand mould that is made too hard, and it will cause 
trouble. 

Many moulders think that the thicker a casting is the 
more blacking should be put on it. When -^\" of thickness 
will not peel a heavy solid casting, it is generally safe to 
conclude the blacking has not been made and mixed proper- 
ly; if j\" thickness of blacking will not peel a casting, the 
thickness of i" will not do it. When blacking is put on 
thicker than j\", it causes the surface of a mould or black- 
ing to generally flake off in spots, and the iron when it 



^10 LOAM MOULDING. 

comes in contact with the blacking causes a gas ; the 
blacking being so thick the gas cannot escape through to 
the loam or dry sand surface, and as it must free itself m 
some way, it will start and push out tlie face coat of black- 
ing, and pass up through the iron. 

When a casting commences to be less than one incli in 
thickness, then the blacking should be thinner upon the 
surface of the mould, especially towards the upper end. 

AVhen the casting is run altogether from the bottom of 
the mould, too much blacking on a mould for a thin cast- 
ing acts as too strong a green sand facing on a thin casting ; 
it will make the casting all cold shut. To properly put 
the blacking upon a mould in order to make a smooth- 
skinned casting is yery important. The thickness of black- 
ing should depend upon the condition of the surface of 
the mould. Eammed up dry sand moulds are generally 
about the same dampness when they are finished, but with 
loam moulds it is different ; wo sometimes do not get the 
blacking on the surface until it has become very hard or 
dry. AVhen the surface of a mould is dry or hard, the first 
coat of blacking should be a thin one, the drier the sur- 
face the thinner the first coat of blacking should be, 
in order to have it soak in and adhere firmly to the sur- 
face. In putting on this first coat the brush should be 
ru1)bed up and down, and from one side to the other, as 
oftentimes only once passing the brush over the surface 
will not make the blacking surely work into the hard loam 
surface : the thickness of a second coat of blacking should 
depend upon how stiff or dry the first coat has become : if 
it is hard or dry, then the. second coat should not be much 
thicker then the first was, and, of course, the thinner the 
coats of blacking are, the more coats must be put on when 
loam mould surfaces are dry and hard. It is best to black 
and finish one piece or section at a time, and after the first 



BLACKING AND SLEEKING MOULDS. 211 

coat of blacking is on, the following coats should be put 
on before the under one has gotten too hard and dry. 

We are yery often forced to black loam moulds or swept 
up rolls while the loam or surface of the mould has hardly 
become stiff or dry enough to absorb the blacking. In 
blacking such green moulds we cannot use the blacking as 
thin as when blacking a hard surface, but it must be used 
thicker, in order to get body enough, and in such cases, 
when there are two coats required, we must be careful, lest 
in putting on the second coat we will take olf nearly as 
much as we put on, in which case, when the casting comes 
out, we will wonder why it is that the coating does not peel 
better. It is always best to black a mould, if circumstances 
will allow, Avhen the mould is just damp enough to soak up 
the blacking, so as to be sleekable about five minutes after it 
is put on, and also to have the blacking stay damp long enough 
to sleek the mould in good style, without having to bear on 
too hard with your sleeking tools to do it, since bearing 
hard upon tools when sleeking a mould is very injurious ; 
for it not only compresses and closes up the pores of the 
blacking, but it also has a tendency to start it from the sur- 
face of the mould, the effect of which is not ceen until the 
casting comes out, having some scabs upon it. 

The less sleeking done in order to finish a mould the bet- 
ter. It is a good plan to lightly sleek once over the mould 
while the blacking is soft and damp. This will smooth 
down and fill up the hollows, and then to come back to your 
starting-point, by wliich time the blacking may be stiff 
enough to allow the finishing of the mould in good shape. 
Sometimes, when the blacking is very soft, the mould may 
have to be sleeked over three times before it has a good 
finish. A well-finished mould is one on which no trowel or 
any tool marks are seen, and also having all the parts 
sleeked smooth and the shape the pattern demands. If a 



212 LOAM MOULDING. 

square corner is required, see that it is made square, and 
not all filled up with lumps of blacking ; or if a deep flange 
is needed, see that there are no streaks of blacking running 
down its sides, so as to make the casting look as if a lot of 
worms had been traveling over its surface, eating grooves 
in it as they went. Sometimes, when it is not easy to get xit 
some crooked parts, in order to sleek them, many use a fine 
camel's-hair brush and some thin blacking for going over 
the surface. In fact, many moulders make a practice of 
doing this over all sleeked moulds, and it is a good way to 
do, when you want to quickly finish a mould, or hide any 
rough finish or tool marks. There is one redeeming quality 
about thus going over the surface of a mould. It will help 
to fasten down any spots or places that may have started 
from improper sleeking. 

A mould when in process of blacking should liave the 
blacking brushed or put on Avith a swab as smooth and even 
as possible, and not have it daubed on in any style, knocking 
off the edges and corners, and lifting up the surface sand. 
A mould blackened in this way is sickening to look upon. 
Time taken in order to blacken properly Avill be more tlian 
fully saved in the finishing — also will prepare a mould so as 
to be finished in good style, which it is impossible to do 
with a mould roughly blackened; and the attempt would 
only take twice as long as if the mould had been blackened 
smoothly and even. 

In using a trowel or any tools to sleek or finish a black- 
ened mould, the whole flat surface of them should never be 
used as a moulder does when sleeking a green sand mould. 
When too much surface is allowed to press or to be moved 
upon the surface of blacking, it will generally stick to the 
tools. To properly sleek blacking, the movements must be 
lively, and as little of the surface of the tools as possible be 
used ; and also never sleek twice where once slioulil do. 



BLACKIN^G AKD SLEEKIITG MOULDS. 213 

A dry sand mould is worse to finish, so far as the sticking 
of the blacking to the tools is concerned, than a loam mould. 
Sometimes, when finishing either of them, if the blacking 
has become dry, it will be started in an inexplicable manner, 
and cause the casting to be scabbed. The trowel should be 
slightly elevated or tipped up, so as to have only a small 
surface of the lowest portion touching, and if the blacking 
has become too hard for easily finishing, it is a good plan to 
dip the tools into water. This will help the blacking to 
sleek easier, and prevent its being started. When the black- 
ing is soft, rub the tools with a good oily rag, which assists 
in cases where there is danger of the blacking sticking when 
being sleeked. Often in sleeking there are air bubbles 
formed under the skin of soft blacking, caused by too much 
sleeking, and which must be disj^osed of before a mould can 
be well finished. To do this, the air bubbles should be 
pricked with a iVm or sharp vent Avire. 

An article that has been lately introduced, called plum- 
bago, silver lead, or sometimes flake lead, is growing into great 
favor with moulders, as it is a great help not only in peel- 
ing the casting, but also permits faster and better finishing 
the mould. This lead, when of the right kind, is dusted by 
the hand over the surface of the blacking, and to give some 
idea to moulders of its merits that have never used any, it 
will be sufficient to say, that after it has been dusted on over 
the wet blacking, the flat of the hand can be rubbed over the 
wet or damp blacking, and there will not any stick to it. In 
using tools, they slide easily over the surface without any 
danger of the blacking sticking to them, and the sleeking 
of a mould is made a simple affair by its use. Blackening of 
moulds dry is a plan that is often practiced. There is less 
danger of a mould's scabbing when blackened dry than when 
green, since there is no sleeking done, and the blacking 
can be used thinner. The thinness of the blacking v/ill 



214 LOAM MOULDIi^^G. 

depend upon the heat of the mould to be blackened. The 
hotter the mould is, the thinner should the blacking be. 
Moulds should never be blackened when they are so hot as 
to make the blacking blister. It generally takes from one 
to two coats more to blacken a mould when dry than when 
it is green, because the coats must be used thinner. To 
properly blacken moulds, either green or dry, will always 
require a mechanical judgment, and whenever there is any 
trouble with blacking not peeling or casting as it should, 
let us investigate, to see if the trouble is not with ourselves, 
before we commence to blame the blacking manufacturer. 



IROK CASINGS FOR MOULDING POTS IN LOAM. 215 



IROJSr CASINGS FOR MOULDING POTS IN 

LOAM. 

The use of the flask or iron casing, as shown in the sketch, 
will be something new to many loam monlders. By this 
plan, instead of rubbing the loam on to bricks, it is rubbed 
on to iron. The pots made in these casings are used in a 
wire factory for heating wire. 

In the morning, when the casings are hoisted out and 
when they are hot, the first coat of loam is rubbed on to 
them, and is about |" in thickness. If the casings are not 
hot enough to dry the loam, they are run into the oven, and 
when dry and hot, are pulled out and lowered down on the 
shallow bottom and clamped. 

There can be a thin sheet-iron ring placed between the 
Joints, to project out to the face of the sweep to support 
the loam, and make a level joint. 

After the center spindle is set into its bearing at the bot- 
tom, and secured at the top by the arm, as shown, the loam 
is rubbed on, the sweep passed around, and when this coat 
is stiff enough the finishing coat is put on and swept off 
smoothly. 

The cut shows a sweep only half the length of the flask,'^ 
that is, coming up to where the flask is jointed in the mid- 
dle. They are made so, in order to make pots small in 
diameter, that would not admit of a man standing up in 
them to sweep them up. The lower section is swept up 
and finished, the top section put on, a second sweep is 
screwed on above the lower one, and the top section swept 
up. 



216 LOAM MOULDING. 

Were the pots large enough to admit of a man working 
inside them, the easing could be made without any joint at 
the middle, and the sweep made the whole length. 

Tlie tliickness of loam used on the surface of casings 
is 1" at the bottom, tapering up to J" at the toj). This 
taper is to allow the casting to be hoisted out easily. The 
small sweep at the bottom is for making the bottom of the 
pot. This is not swept up until the rest is formed and 
hoisted off ; then the top arm is fastened on at the lower 
bearing. These bearings are turned on a square shaft, 
which is better for fastening the sweeps to than a round 
one. The bottom is rammed up with dry sand. In closing 
the two parts together when dry, the joint must be secured 
so as not to leave a fin, which would prevent the casting 
from being hoisted off the casing. To insure this, it is 
necessary to go down into the mould and daub up the open- 
ing with blacking. To moulders that have never used cas- 
ing for loam work, this plan would seem dangerous ; but 
having worked with this rigging myself, and knowing that 
sjilendid castings can be made in a very short time by its 
use, I would recommend casings for castings of a similar 
character when there is a large number to make. For a 
few pieces it would not j^ay, as the rigging is expensive to 
make. 

The main point in making such a rigging is to have 
plenty of vent holes in the flask or casing. The holes 
should not be over |", as the pressure of the metal would 
be apt to burst through them if larger. It is better to 
have the holes the largest on the inside, as shown. The 
first coat of loam that goes on should be as open in texture 
as possible. 

These pots could be swept up flat ways, as well as in the 
way shown, by having the flask split in halves like a roll 
flask. A wooden frame, the size and shape of the cast- 



IRON CASINGS FOR MOULDING POTS IN LOAM. 217 




02 
H 
O 

S 

P 
o 

o 

o 

I— I 
GO 

o 
« 



10 



218 LOAM MOULDING. 

ing, should be made to lay on the joint of the flask when 
sweeping up the mould, to make the edge of the Joint 
square and level. 

A casting smaller than the one for which the casing was 
intended can be made by lining up the casmg with brick. 
A flange or angle-iron, such as is used for a cupola, can be 
put on for holding up the brick. When building up the 
bricks put cinders between the joints and at the back to 
carry off the vent. The size of the pots made in these cast- 
ings was from 2 feet 6" up to 4 feet in diameter, and in length 
about 7 feet. The thickness of the castings run from 1" up 
to 1|". In pouring them, the iron fell from the top. The 
flanges of the castings should be turned up in the lathe ; also 
the broad flange on the core barrel, as it is the flange bearing 
on the top flange of the casing that supports and holds up 
the core. When the two pins (one of them is shown at JT) 
are in their holes, you can rely on the thickness being equal 
at the bottom. 

The core is a hay rope loam core, and in the two cuts is 
shown the manner of turning it over so as not to injure it. 

The small cut shows the core barrel as it is hoisted off the 
oven carriage. It has to be dried standing on end. The 
blocks, Nos. 1 and 2, are used for assisting in throwing the 
core over, and when it is down the bar is put under the 
screw and the hook hitched on the square B, which is also 
used for turning the core barrel when making the core. 
The bar is then put through the eye of the screw or hook, 
the crane hitched to the other end, and the barrel hoisted 
up on its end, as shown, so as to be lowered down into the 
pot. The little plug A has a screw cut on it the same as 
the hook, and when the hook is taken out, this plug is 
screwed into the hole, loamed over, and blacked. A small 
fire of shavings is built under it to dry it. This plug has 
a square hole in it for screwing it in and out. The core 



IRON CASIINTGS FOR MOULDIN^G POTS IN LOAM. 219 



barrel is cast with a bottom on, full of prickers. The top 
flange is bolted on tlie core barrel, as shown at D. h\ this 
flange there is a dovetailed groove cast at the point, to 
which the iron comes, and this is filled with loam, so that 
when the iron comes up it strikes sand instead of iron. 

In fitting up the core barrel, the hook and screw must be 
central, so that the barrel will turn true on them, and the 
broad flange at exact right angles with the center bearings. 
The core barrel should have plenty of vent holes in it, and 
be made 3" smaller than the size of core, to allow 1\" on 
eacli side for the hay rope and loam. 



220 LOAM MOULDING. 



DRYING MOULDS. 

A WELL-DKIED loam or dry sand mould is a yery essential 
point in making a casting that shall be free from scabs. 
Some irregularity may be admissible in the mixing of the 
loam or blacking, but tlie mould should be thoroughly dried. 
When the water in a damj) mould is heated, it is converted 
into steam ; and steam, when confined, creates pressure. 
Iron, when poured into a mould, heats up the surface and 
interior portions, and this heat generates steam if moisture 
is present, and the mould is very rarely strong enough or 
close enough to hold the pressure, which increases until it 
forces an opening through which it can escape. This may 
be towards the surface away from the iron, but it is more 
likely to be in a direction towards and through the iron. 
The outside of a mould is generally encased by an iron flask, 
or held by a curbing, between which and the brick-work 
sand is rammed hard and comj)act, and, with the excej^tion 
of through a few vent holes, it is almost impossible for steam 
to escape in this direction. Towards the face of the mould 
the brick-work is open, or, if it is a dry sand mould, the sur- 
face is ge;ierally more porous than the backing,' so that the 
steam will generally escape, or be drawn through the surface 
of a mould before it will find its way through the outside. 
This is the main reason why a damp mould will cause a 
casting to scab. 

It may be asked. Why does not a green sand mould scab ? 
The sand is damp. True, tlie sand is damp, but there is a 
certain limit to this dampness, which, if overreached, will 
cause trouble. 



DRYING MOULDS. 221 

The surface of a loam or dry sand mould is generally hard 
and close, compared to that of a green sand mould, tliereby 
permitting the steam generated at the surface of the mould 
to escape through the sand until it is free ; hut should the 
green sand h^» rammed too hard, then the steam cannot force 
its way through, and it will come up through the surface of 
the mould and pass up through tlie liquid iron, thereby 
making a scabby or bad casting. A green sand mould that 
is rammed too hard, and a loam or dry sand mould that is 
not dried, have very much the same effect on the casting. 

Whether a loam mould is dry or not is very often guessed 
at. The moulder will say it looks dry, and that as it has 
been in the oven a long time it must be dry. It is not the 
length of time a mould has been in the oven, nor the looks 
of its surface, tliat can alway be depended on to indicate its 
quality of dryness. A mould that should be dried in two or 
three niglits is often only half-dried, as the oven may not 
work well, or there may have been some neglect on the part 
of the watchman. The fire may have been very hot for a 
short time, tliereby scorching or burning the surface of the 
mould, while the interior is "not half dry. 

There is a great deal to be done in the way of properly 
managing a fire so as to save fuel and dry a mould as it 
should be dried. The first fire should be a slow and easy 
one, so as not to blister or crack the surface of the mould, 
which is caused by the efforts of the steam — quickly raised 
under the surface — to escape. This steam meeting the 
resistance of the half-dried blacking, which is very much 
like a sheet of rubber, stretches and blows it up into hills, 
but has not sufficient pressure to burst through and escape. 
There are many who think that by keeping a slow fire all 
the time to dry a mould or cores they save fuel. In some 
cases this may be so, as when a mould has little body, so 
that one night's firing will dry it ; but when a mould has a 



222 LOAM MOULDIN^G. 

large body, after the first easy firing, in my opinion, there 
will be more fuel saved by keeping a good steady fire than 
by keeping a slow one. A slow fire will drive the heat in 
for about 8 inches, after whicli the further drying will be 
very slow. 

With some moulds or cores this slow firing might be kept 
up for a week, and yet the interior not be dry. Whereas if 
the fire had been hotter the heat would have been forced 
into the interior and the steam and dampness expelled with 
probably two-thirds less fuel. 

I have seen large cores put into an oven and orders given 
for a slow fire for fear of burning them, and after there had 
been fuel enough used to dry two sets of such cores, the boss 
would get disgusted because they were not dry, and give 
orders for a very hot fire, at the same time looking at the 
cores as if to say, *^ We will see who is to be boss." When 
the cores came out of the oven in a burnt condition, one 
could imagine them as saying, ^' Well, Mr. Boss, if you had 
used better judgment we would all have been well dried long 
ago, and not burnt either." 

In the making of large body moulds or cores there should, 
if possible, be openings made from the center to the outside to 
assist the steam in escaping from the interior ; and also, 
when possible, the center portion should be filled up with 
coke or cinders as much as can be safely done. The more 
coke or cinders the less sand and firing will be needed. 

Plenty of venting in moulds or cores is also a great assist- 
ance in drying. 

It is generally easy to tell when a dry sand mould or core 
h dry, but with loam moulds it is not so easy. A^ery few 
loam moulds are made, but the following plan could be 
adopted for determining if they are dry. Let the moulder, 
when building the bottom part of his mould, make an open- 
ing that will allow the inserting of a wet brick, or a lump 



DRYING MOULDS. 



223 




224 



LOAM MOULDING. 



of wet loam, and on the outside of this let the opening be 
closed with temporary brick-work and mud. When he 
thinks his mould is dry, he can i)ull out the temporary brick- 
work and see the condition of the inserted brick or lump of 
loam. If this part of the mould has been placed away from 
the fire, and this brick or loam, when broken, is dry, lie can 
generally depend on the mould being dry. 

The cuts shown are for illustrating some of the ways of 
drying loam moulds that are too large to be dried in the 
ovens or too heavy for the crane to lift, making it necessary 
that they be dried in a pit or on the shop floor. ^ is a fire- 
basket, sometimes made in the form of an open grate-frame 
work all around the sides, as shown at P, and sometimes of 
boiler iron, drilled full of holes, as shown. For bottom 
grate bars in both styles, wrought-iron rods are generally used. 

The baskets are made round or square in form, according 
to the shape of moulds they are to be used in. The width 
and height will depend upon the dimensions of the mould. 
There should be at least 18" of space between the surface of 
the mould and tlie fire-basket, to prev^ent burning the sur- 
face of the mould before it gets thoroughly dried. 

Sometimes, instead of using one large basket, three or 
four smaller ones are used, in order to better distribute the 
heat. 

When the mould has a bottom in it, like the one shown, 
the baskets are generally hung by having the hook F held 
up by a crane or a strong bar. When a mould has no bot- 
tom in it, the basket can be let down so as to rest on bot- 
tom bearings. For moulds of this class, it is best, when 
possible, to have them hoisted up so as to have the bottom 
part of the mould about on a level with the top of the fire- 
basket, or have a hole dug so as to allow the baskets to get 
below the bottom, the better to dry the lower part. 

When the inside of a mould is too small to admit of a 



DRYIN^G MOULDS. 225 

fire-basket being placed in it, a temporary fire-place is made 
adjacent to the bottom of the mould, and the heat made to 
pass up through the inside of the mould, by liaving the 
outer opening or space closed up with brick-work or sand, as 
shown at S. The fire-place shown at H can be made in the 
form of a basket, and placed directly under the mould or 
core. This basket can be pulled out to clean and renew the 
fire. Or there can be a temporary fire-place, as shown at W, 
built up outside of the core or mould, and the heat con- 
ducted through a channel to get to the inside of the mould. 

To confine the heat, tlie moulds are generally covered 
over with sheet or boiler iron plates, as shown at 1", V. D, 
is a stove-pipe, to carry off the smoke and create a draft. 
^ is a sheet-iron curbing for retaining the heat. X is a 
brick wall for the same purpose. Either the wall or the 
curbing will answer the purpose. 

The combined fires are only generally needed when there 
is over an 8" wall to be dried, in which case a fire in W, so 
as to heat up the outside of the mould, is combined with a 
fire on the inside of the mould, and also channels, as 1, 2, 
3, and 4, connected with the fire PT, to carry the heat un- 
derneath the bottom plate, which should have plenty of 
holes in it. The two fires thus combined will thoroughly 
dry a mould. These channels can be formed by using brick, 
or rough gutters can be made in the sand, either of which, 
if desired, can be filled up with sand after the mould is 
dried. The heat could be got under the bottom by having 
the plate raised on iron blocking, as shown at A, A. 

It is always the bottom portions of such moulds that are 
the hardest to dry, especially so if the mould is built up in 
a pit. In such cases it is a good plan to have, when possi- 
ble, a large hole cast in the bottom plate, so that when the 
bottom is being bricked up there will be a part of the mould 
left open. 

10* 



226 ^^^ LOAM MOULDING. ^^^^^^^^ 

Then below this opening in the mould let there be a small 
pit dug with a channel. T is a pipe laid to the outside of 
the mould to admit air to the pit, creating a draft. Then, 
with a fire-basket lowered down througli the mould into the 
pit, we should have a fire below the bottom of the mould the 
same as shown at H. After the mould is thoroughly dried 
by the combination of fire-baskets H and B, the pit is filled 
up with sand, and a plate having built upon it bricks or core 
sand, and previously dried and still hot, is lowered down to 
fill up the 02:)ening, as shown at K. Between the two plates 
there should be a little soft loam to form a solid bearing. 
The open space M, M, is then filled up with a dry mixture of 
loam, and should the top surface not be even with the original 
surface, it is made so by filing off or building on. A thin 
sheet-iron plate, having on it a charcoal fire, is laid over so 
as to assist in drying out dampness. 

Sometimes when building the bottom of a loam mould that 
is very thick, it is best to partially dry the bottom brick- 
work before the upright portions of the mould are made ; 
which can be done by having the plate raised up and a wood 
fire underneath and a charcoal fire on top. After this the 
bottom can be permanently set where wanted. 

The best kind of fuel to use in the fire-baskets will depend 
on the draft. Charcoal requires the least air, gas coke more, 
and soft and hard coal and coke the most. 

The moulder must use his own judgment as to the best 
plan to be adopted for drying any particular mould, as there 
are hardly two moulds that the same drying arrangements 
should be used for ; but it is hoped that from some of the 
different plans given there can be found one that can be 
turned to answer his purpose. 



CHAPLETS AND THEIR USE. 227 



CHAPLETS AND THEIR USE. 

Iisr making castings that require tlie use of chaplets, the 
moulder is frequently annoyed by complaints about blow- 
holes. If asked what caused the blow-holes, he would be 
likely to say that the chaplets must have been rusty, of 
which there can be no question. To know what this rust 
is, and its chemical action when surrounded with hot iron, 
should be of as much interest to engineers and machinists 
as it is to the moulder. Any one employed in a foundry 
knows — some to their sorrow — that to take a rusty rod and 
quickly push it into a ladle of melted iron will cause the hot 
iron to fly in all directions. This is caused more from the 
dampness than from anything else, as all rusty iron is 
more or less dam}^, and hence, when plunged in the hot 
iron steam is instantly generated, which scatters the iron in 
its efforts to escape. 

To demonstrate this, take a rusty rod, heat it enough to 
dry up all the moisture, and then put it into a ladle of iron. 
The iron will boil around it more or less, but will not fly 
over the foundry as it would if the rod was not dry. 

There are two things to be contended against in the effort 
to keep melted iron from blowing or boiling when enclosing 
rusty iron. The first is steam, and the second is carbonic 
oxide gas. This gas is formed by carbon in the hot iron 
combining with oxygen. 

Take a j^iece of polished iron, and let it get damp from 
the moisture of the air — or otherwise dampen it — and it 
soon becomes rusty, because of the affinity of iron for oxy- 



228 



CHAPLETS. 



gen when combined with water. Under certain conditions 
polished iron can be kept from collecting rust or oxygen ; as 
by keeping it no colder than the temperature of the air, and 
keeping the air dry. Take the iron from a cold room into a 
warm one, and it will not be long before rust will collect on 
it. This is caused by the cold iron condensing whatever 
moisture there may be in the air. 

To determine how much gas is formed in a mould when 
melted iron comes in contact with rusty iron, I cut off a 
piece of ^" round iron one foot long, and had it weighed on 
a pair of fine scales. I then took the rod and heated it red 
hot, so as to burn off all the rust, after which the rod was 
reweighed and found to weigh sixty grains less. 

To know how much gas this sixty grains of rust or oxide 
would form, I submitted the matter to a chemist, Mr. L. H. 
Witte, who found that sixty grains of rust iu melted iron 
would make thirty-one grains of carbonic oxide gas, which 
at 2,800 degrees of heat (the melting point of iron), and a 
pressure of one atmosphere, would occupy about six hun- 
dred cubic inches of space. The yolume, or space, which 
gas occupies depends on the pressure. If a moulder sets 
rusty chaplets, the damage will be proportioned to the tem- 
perature and pressure of the iron around them. It is very 
seldom that chaplets in common pipe and similar castings 
should have blow-holes around them on the side cast down. 
It is on the top or cope part, where there is very little press- 
ure, that the blow-holes are found. The same may be said 
of cylinders or other castings where chaplets are used. 

The question might be asked, Why is it, that where the 
greatest pressure is, the gas escapes the easiest and without 
causing blow-holes ? The parts of a mould where the great- 
est pressure is are usually the first to be filled, and the iron 
is hotter and cleaner than at the top of the mould. Should 
the chaplets at the bottom cause the iron to blow or boil, 



CHAPLETS AKD THEIR USE. 229 

the gas will escape upward through the iron, and come out 
of the mould at the runners or feeders. The iron being 
hot, the pressure will not allow any holes or cavities to 
exist; but sliould the iron boil cr blow around chaplets in 
the upper sections of a mould, it will generally leave blow- 
holes in the casting, because of the iron being dull, or hav- 
ing no life in it, so that the gas cannot escape through it, 
but stays around the chaplets. The size of the cavities 
will depend on the amount of gas formed that cannot 
escape. 

Chaplets are very often ke})t in moulds for two or three 
days before the mould is cast. In such cases they are very 
apt to corrode or get rusty, especially if the mould is a 
green sand one. 

The moulder may paint or varnish the chaplets, to pro- 
tect the iron from getting rusty, but the paint or varnish 
will sometimes create more gas than the rust or oxide 
would. Again, the paint may be of such a nature as to pro- 
tect the iron chaplet from rusting, but hold moisture itself, 
and when the melted iron surrounds the wet chaplet it 
forms a cushion of steam around it, and the blow-holes 
are formed, the same as from the gas caused from the 
rust. 

About the best thing to prevent chaplets from blowing, 
or boiling the iron around them, is to have all the rust burnt 
off and have tliem tinned over, which can be dene to advan- 
tage for a standard class of work. The affinity of tin for 
iron makes the iron hotter. Pieces of tin are often thrown 
into ladles of iron to make the iron softer and more fluid. 
The tin, beside making the iron around the chaplets hotter, 
so as to give any gas that may be formed a better chance to 
escape, also protects them from collecting moisture and 
getting rusty. 

For castings where it is essential that the upper section 



230 ^^^^^^ CHAPLETS. 

shall be sound, it is best to use what is called a loam chaplet. 
This is made by taking solid iron, wrought or cast, and 
daubing the surface ex23osed to the melted iron with a thin 
coat of loam. This will leave a clean hole in the casting, 
which the machinist will have to taj:* and plug up, but when 
the casting is init to the test, there will be no danger of blow- 
holes around the chaplets. In using such chaplets jneces of 
iron can be built up on top of the core arbors so as to come 
even with the face of the core, and have the chaplets rest on 
iron instead of on sand. By tiiis method fewer chaplets will 
be required to hold down a core. Tlie fewer the chaplets 
used the better and stronger the casting. 

Red lead mixed with turpentine is one of the best paints 
for chaplets. Chalk, coal tar, oil, asphaltum, etc., which are 
often used on chaplets, are not so reliable. In some shops 
cast and wrought chaplets are used very extensively. The 
cast-iron ones are the best to use on castings that require to 
be finished, as the melted iron adheres to them better than 
to wrought-iron ones. In some cases where castings are 
finished, the chaplets cannot be seen. 

Cast-iron chaplets can be made of any shape or size, and 
used in castings from V' up to 3" thick, but care must be 
taken not to set them where the gates will cause the iron to 
run against them as they melt very readily. 

The cuts Nos. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 show a class of 
wrought and cast iron chaplets that are very handy for most 
classes of work. No. 1 is a cast-iron chaplet that can be 
made very readily from |" to 1" diameter, and of any length 
required. They are made by ramming up a deep flask having 
a level joint, and after the cope is off, bedding in the heads 
and driving down the long stem any length wanted. They 
should be notched with a chisel on each side before knocking 
them off, as they are apt to break below the surface of the 
casting when roughly knocked off. 



CHAPLETS. 



231 



1 



** 



> 




0^ 



> 






232 CHAPLETS. 

No. 5 is a double-headed chaplet, used particularly on 
loam and dry sand work. A pattern will be required for 
each size wanted. 

No. 7 shows a cast-iron chaplet and stand which is very 
handy for loam, dry, or green sand moulds. The face of the 
stand Jfis set against the pattern and rammed up, or built 
up in the brick-work. The only objection to using this 
stand is, that it will chill the casting, for which reason the 
stand should not be set on castings that require to be hard 
iron. These stands are better if cast solid, and the holes for 
holding the chaplet drilled out. When setting the chaplets, 
if they are too long, break off a piece, and if too short, fill 
up tlie holes with sand. Iron flasks for special jobs often 
have holes drilled in the bars to hold chaplets, whereby much 
time and labor is saved. 

No. 3 is a wrought-iron chaplet, having a large double 
head riveted to the stem. This is safer than having only a 
single head riveted on, especially for large cores that have a 
heavy lift under them. 

Some blacksmiths can take a nut, and by putting a 
shoulder on the round stem, weld the nut on, making ahead 
on a chaplet 3 or 4 inches broad, which is safer than a head 
riveted on over a small shoulder. 

Chaplets that do not require very large heads can be made 
cheaply in a machine for heading bolts. 

No. 4 is a double-headed wrought-iron chaplet, having a 
sharp stem, to be used on loam and dry sand work. The top 
head is riveted on, and the lower one is made to slide up on 
the stem to a shoulder, which is filed to make the chaplet 
the size wanted. 

No. 6 is a spring chaplet made from hoop, sheet, or plate 
iron, bent with the grain of the iron. This is very handy 
for placing between cores where it would be hard to make a 
stiff chaplet stay. Sometimes these chaplets have their ends 



CHAPLETS. 233 

bent inwards so as to come in contact with each other, thereby 
making a stiffer spring chaplet. 

As . regards the size of iron for making chaplets, the 
moulder must use his own judgment, as different castings 
require chaplets of various sizes and strength. Chaplets are 
a very important feature in the manufacture of castings, and 
' are always an eyesore to look on, as they disfigure castings 
more or less. A good moulder will use as few of them as 
possible. 



234 LOAM mouldi:n^g. 



LEAVING RISERS OPEN OR CLOSED ON 
LOAM OR DRY SAND MOULDS. 

Among loam moulders and shops in the practice of cast- 
ing loam moulds, the question of whether the risers are to 
be left o'pen or closed seems to have been established more 
from custom than from any thought upon the subject. 
The custom of one shop is to cast all loam moulds by 
having the risers ojjen ; another shop would not per- 
mit such a thing, and it has often been a matter of thought 
whether such customs did not prevail simply because it 
was the practice of other moulders. There is no doubt 
many moulders leave risers open or shut after careful 
thought and study ujoon the subject. In giving their 
views, it is possible some may differ ; but if they do, it 
will result in their giving thought to the subject, and not 
acting blindly. 

AVhen iron is poured into a mould which has all the risers 
closed up tight, the air in the mould is compressed. Iron 
dropping into compressed air cannot drop with such a dead 
fall as it would if there was no compression ; and iron run- 
ning into iron, having a pressure of air upon it, cannot rise 
so fast as it would, if there were no pressure. 

Compressed air in a mould will often prevent its scabbing 
and the surface gases from coming inwards. These facts 
seem to give good and sufficient reasons for drawing the fol- 
lowing conclusions : when iron is poured into a loam mould 
from the bottom, it is very often best in thin castings to 



LEAVING KISERS OPEK OR CLOSED. 235 

have the risers open. This will allow the iron to rise up 
more freely and faster. Whenever a mould is cast open, the 
area of a riser or risers should be large enough to permit the 
air to pass off freely and without a noise. It is often best, 
when the iron is on the dull side, to leave the risers open, 
especially in such castings as steam cylinders, etc., which 
have many cores in them. The cause of blow-holes in the 
upper portion of such castings has arisen from the dullness 
of the iron not giving collected gases or air a good chance 
to escape through it. When a mould is burnt very badly, 
it is better to keep the risers closed, as there will be a com- 
pression against its surface, instead of a laxity and rushing 
upwardness of blasts of air and gases. When pouring a 
mould by dropping the iron from the top, its fall and cut- 
ting actions will be made easier upon the moulds by having 
the risers closed ; for such castings as rolls, spindles, or can- 
non, risers heads are generally left open. It may sound odd 
to some moulders to read such an expression as the drawing 
down of loam or dry sand covering plates or copes ; but the 
writer has seen the cope surface of anvil block castings all 
covered with what the moulders called scabs. And to pre- 
vent them, they used different mixtures of sand or loam, 
and all to no purpose. They were then told if they would 
close up their feeding riser heads, so as to allow no air 
or gas to escape, the trouble would be stopped ; but the ad- 
vice was laughed at, and it w\as not until they saw it prac- 
ticed and the results obtained from it, that they believed 
loam and dry sand copes could be drawn down. It is not 
very long ago a certain foundry had some heavy fly- 
wheel to make, and the rim being covered over with a loam 
ring, the cope part would be all drawn down, so a remedy 
was sought for, and it was not until the risers or feeders 
were made air-tight, and the joint also, that good wheels 
were cast. 



236 LOAM MOULDING. 

A flat cope surface of loam or dry sand, when exposed to 
the direct heat of a rising heavy body of iron, will be 
drawn down upon the same principle as green sand copes 
are drawn down, and any one who doubts the truth of this 
will be convinced sooner or later of its correctness. 



KESERVOIES AKD LADLES. 237 



RESEKVOIRS AND LADLES FOR POURING 
HEAVY CASTINGS. 

Whej^ pouring heavv castings there is usually a feeling 
of suspense and anxiety experienced by all interested. It is 
in the few moments that the moulds are filling with iron 
that the work of weeks, perhaps months, is tested. The 
least neglect or wrong-doing in the construction of the 
mould may make the pouring unsuccessful, thereby involv- 
ing a loss of hundreds of dollars. The moulders that this 
class of castings can be trusted with are few. They must be 
long-headed, cautious meclianica. In some cases a man 
that is not a thorough mechanic may, when the work is 
planned and laid out for him by his foreman, be trusted 
with large resjDonsible jobs, if he is a steady, thoughtful, and 
cautious man. AYhen a mould is being poured, should any- 
thing go wrong, it is very rare that it can be remedied. 
There is but one trial for a mould, and during the pouring 
there is no such thing as waiting a while to fix the part that 
is wrong. 

In the engravings is shown a ladle calculated to hold ten 
tons of iron ; also the construction of a reliable reservoir for 
receiving and holding large quantities of metal, until enough 
is melted to pour a large casting. 

When melting iron for very heavy castings, cupolas and 
air furnaces are generally used. From the air furnaces iron 
spouts or troughs connect with tlie reservoirs, so that when 
all the iron that has been charged up is melted down and 
found to be of the right temperature, the furnace is tapped 



238 RESERVOIRS Aiq^D LADLES. 

out and the iron let run into the reservoir. At the same 
time the cupolas will be in blast, and the melted iron con- 
veyed from them to the reservoir in crane ladles, until by 
measurement there is found to be enough iron in the reser- 
voir to pour the casting. Then the iron is let run from the 
reservoir into the mould. 

There are several ways of constructing reservoirs for hold- 
ing iron. Sometimes a lot of ipig iron can be built up in a 
circle to form a green sand reservoir. The pig iron gives a 
backing to the green sand, preventing the reservoir from 
bursting. Under such green sand reservoirs it is best to have 
a coke bed, and, to form an outlet, loamed plates can be used, 
having the pig iron placed on each side so as to form a slide 
for the plate to work up and down in. The pigs must be 
protected from the melted iron by green sand. To form 
the bottom of the outlet, there should be a dry sand core 
used, to prevent any washing away when the iron runs 
out. 

In making such reservoirs the sides are built up with con- 
siderable slant, so as to make the bottom smaller than the 
top. This gives strength to the bottom. A sheet-iron curb- 
ing would answer the same purpose as the pig iron, and 
would be better for green-sand reservoirs from 4 up to 8 feet 
mean diameter. 

For more than 8 feet it is safer to make a reservoir as 
shown in the engraving, in which F, E, are iron j^lates bed- 
ded on a solid flooring ; P is a boiler iron curbing, the 
plates being screwed together with bolts. Inside of this 
curbing is sand, rammed solid, and on the top of this solid 
foundation a stout cast-iron plate, Y, is bedded. To this 
plate Y, is bolted the j-eservoir curbing, as shown at B. For 
very deep reservoirs this angle iron should be one continu- 
ous rinp- all around the bottom of the curbing. It can be 
made of cast iron or of boiler iron. It is not necessary that 



KESERVOIRS Al^D LADLES. 



239 



) steel pin lA 




240 RESERVOIRS AND LADLES. 

the bolts should be very close together. If tlie angle iron is 
heavy, bolts from 3 to 4 feet apart will answer. 

For an outlet, a tapping hole, S, similar to the tapping 
hole in a cupola, may be made, the only difference being in 
the stop2:)ing used. 

In stopping up a cupola tapping hole clay is generally 
used, and the ta^iping out is all done with bars ; but in the 
tapping of a reservoir it is only once done, and if the tap- 
ping hole is entirely stopped with clay, it will get baked so 
hard as be likely to cause trouble. 

About the best way is to fill up tlie tapping hole with 
sharp sand wet with clay wash, and then in front of the hole 
lay a piece or two of pig iron, so as to make sure of holding 
the pressure. 

When all is ready to run the iron into the mould, remove 
the pieces of pig iron, and with a mason's trowel dig out the 
sharp sand (throwing it away so that it will not run into the 
casting), until the sand looks red-hot, which is a sign that 
there is not much thickness of sand left. Then, with a sharp 
bar, the iron can be tapped out without any danger of knock- 
ing in the breast or of making the tapping hole any larger 
than wanted — a danger that always exists when the tapping 
hole is stopped up with clay, or with any substance that will 
bake hard. 

As regards the size of the tapping hole, it should be smaller 
than the runners that admit the iron into the mould, espe- 
cially so when the casting is run from the bottom of the 
mould, for the iron in the reservoir has a head pressure to 
force it out, while the free flowing of the iron into the mould 
is retarded by the friction of the gates and runners. Also, 
as the iron rises up in the mould, the slower will the flow 
be. 

Another i3lan for letting out the iron is shown at K, T, T. 
Here the outlet is made on the principle of a damper and 



RESERVOIRS AND LADLES. 241 

slide. T T are slides that are secured to the curbing. K is 
a cast-iron damper, or plate, having prickers cast on one side, 
this side being daubed and finished up with loam, and dried. 
Tlie damper is then set in its place, and whatever open space 
there is left between the slides and damper is filled up with 
loam or stiff blacking. This prevents any leakage of the 
iron. When all is ready the damper can be raised as wanted 
by a lever or with a crane. The iron will then flow out 
through the opening as marked by the dotted lines at A. 
Should the iron come out too fast the damper can be knocked 
down so as to shut up the opening A, as desired. 

These reservoirs are sometimes used for the purpose of 
making sure of having the iron well mixed. In making 
very heavy castings, the iron is sometimes melted in a num- 
ber of furnaces or cupolas, and the iron as taken out into 
separate ladles is seldom alike in quality. If a casting is 
poured from the ladles there will not be a uniformity of 
iron throughout the casting. If instead of this all the iron 
is first collected in one mass, there is a good chance that 
the grade will be uniform throughout, which for many 
castings is a very important consideration. 

Some foundries have large, deep tanks, made to hold 
from 10 up to 20 tons of iron. These are made of boiler 
iron, similar in shape to a crane ladle, but of simple and 
inexpensive construction. When there is a heavy casting to 
be poured, these tanks will be set upon solid blocking, and 
the iron will then be brought from the furnaces or cupolas 
in crane ladles and poured into the tanks. When the tanks 
are full, or have enough iron in them for the purpose, they 
are tapped from the bottom of the tank. These tanks are 
generally lined up with fire-brick, and are kept in some 
part of the shop where they can be hoisted by cranes and 
placed wherever wanted. 

Sometimes these tanks have trunnions and under-straps 
11 



242 



RESERVOIRS AKD LADLES. 



fastened to them, and instead of supporting them on block- 
ing, the tank will be held up by haying the trunnions rest 
on strong iron horses. 

There are generally spouts or troughs used, as shown at 
D, to convey the iron into basins before it enters the mould. 
These troughs are generally made of cast iron, daubed up 
with loam and dried ; when there is a long run required, the 
troughs are united, as shown at W, and the joints are daubed 
up and dried with hot irons or fire. 

The basins used to receive the iron from the reservoirs or 
tanks should be made large, so as to give a good chance to 
regulate for fast or slow flowing of the iron. Such basins 
are the better and safer if made of dry sand or loam. 

Pig beds are usually made to receive the overplus iron, of 
which there should always be some in order to insure against 
pouring the casting short. 

Sometimes reservoirs or tanks are used in connection with 
crane ladles. In this case pig beds will seldom be required, 
for the iron in the tanks or reservoirs can be so calculated 
as to make it sure that it will be all needed, and then the 
iron in the ladles can be poured out until the mould is filled 
up, at which moment the pouring can be stopped and the 
iron left in the ladles can be used to pour some lighter cast- 
ing with, thereby saving the cost of melting a lot of extra 
iron, and the labor to handle it twice, saying nothing about 
the mess a lot of iron makes when poured out on a foundry 
floor. 

Sometimes castings are run directly from the air furnaces 
without using any reservoirs or tanks. The iron will run 
along through spouts or troughs into a basin, and from the 
basin into the mould. A branch trough is arranged, so that 
when the mould is full, by raising an iron shute the surplus 
iron is allowed to run into a pig bed. 

Often there will be two or three castings poured directly 



RESERVOIKS Ai^D LADLES. 243 

from one air furnace. One is first poured, and then an iron 
shute is raised, and the iron made to flow into the second 
mould, and so on. When arranging these branch troughs 
to pour two or three castings at one tapping, the main 
trough D must have more or less of a fall to it, according 
to the length of the run, and the first casting to be poured 
should be connected with the highest branch, No. 1. To 
pour the second casting, the upper shute, after the weights 
are taken off, is lifted up, and then the iron flows down into 
branch No. 2. The branch No. 1 is then closed up by using 
an iron stop, as shown at F, and by shoveling in some sand 
and putting in pieces of pig iron at the back. After all 
the moulds are full, the surplus iron is run into pig beds, as 
described. 

The ten-ton ladle shown was copied from a tracing loaned 
by a friend, Mr. Juh7i T. Stoney, a moulder, and superintend- 
ent of large experience. The ladles thus made have given the 
best of satisfaction as regards durability and easy working. 
Measurements are given to assist any one who may want to 
build a first-class screw ladle for carrying up to ten tons of 
iron. For a fifteen-ton ladle it would be safer to have the 
parts enlarged. In building ladles, the top diameter and the 
depth are generally made the same. Taking this for a rule, 
the following figures Avill show the capacity and sizes of 
ladles usually wanted in a foundry : 





CRANE 


LADLES. 


f 


Top Diam. 


Bottom Diam. 


Depth. 


Capacity. 


46" 


40i" 


46" 


16,870 lbs. 


41^" 


38" 


41i" 


12,906 '' 


37" 


32J" 


37" 


8,805 '' 


30" 


26i" 


30" 


4,680 " 


24" 


21" 


24" 


2,395 '' 


19" 


16i" 


19" 


1,190 '' 


m" 


11" 


12^" 


341 '' 



244 RESERVOIRS AND LADLES. 





HAKD LADLES. 




Top Diara. 


Bottom Diam. Depth. 


Capacity. 


11" 


9i" 11" 


230 lbs. 


9" 


n" 9" 


126 '' 



The foregoing figures represent inside measurements of 
ladles when lined or daubed up ; so that, if the ladle is to 
be lined up with fire-bricks or clay daubing, the thickness 
of the bricks or daubing to be used must be added to the 
diameters and depths given. To test the amount a ladle 
will hold, can be told by filling a ladle full of water, and 
multiplying its weight by seven (the approximate specific 
gravity of molten iron). 

For lining up reservoirs that are only intended to be used 
once, common brick can be used, and on the surfaces ex- 
posed to the liquid iron a coat of loam rubbed on, as shown 
by the heavy dark line on the surface of the bricks. After 
the bricks and loam are well dried by fire, a good coat of 
blacking is applied to the surface of the loam. 

To line up large crane-ladles, or tanks, fire-bricks are used, 
as shown in the cut of the ladle. The angle irons shown are for 
holding the brick or the clay daubing, although some foundry- 
men will not use them, thinking them more trouble than service. 

For daubing eight down to four-ton ladles, fire-brick are 
generally used for the bottom, and on the sides a stiff clay 
daubing is used. 

Below four tons, clay daubing is used on the bottom as well 
as on the sides. The thickness of clay on the bottom is 
from 1" up to 2i", and on the sides the clay is thicker at 
the bottom than at the top, running from 2" to 1". For 
small hand ladles, the thinner the daubing can be used the 
handier the ladles will be. 

It is not the thickness of the clay or daubing that is to be 
depended on so much as it is the being sure that all the 
cracks in the daubing are well closed up, and that the clay 
is of an equal thickness all around the ladle. 



SCABBING OF GREEX SAN^D MOULDS, ETC. 245 



SCABBING OF GREEN SAND, DRY SAND, 
AND LOAM MOULDS. 

A:n^y section of the mould that is covered in four or five 
seconds with a body of iron about two inches thick can be 
rammed harder, and will require less venting, than if it took 
a longer time to get this body of iron over it. The thicker 
the body of iron, the more the air, steam, and gases are 
forced to escape .downward through the vents and sand. 
Wherever a scab is seen on a casting, it is certain that the 
iron bubbled and boiled at that point when pouring. 

There mitd he a hiibhle before there can he a scah. The 
bubble may be caused by hardness, closeness, or wet sand. 
The wet sand causes steam to be raised, and for release it 
will follow the direction of the least resistance. The same 
result will follow from hard ramming or closeness of sand. 
The air and gases cannot escape fast enough through the 
vent and sand, so they lift or escape through the surface of 
the mould and through the iron, causing bubbling and 
scabbing of the mould. 

There are instances in casting where the lower part of the 
mould is filled quickly, and as the rising iron comes up, it 
has to cover over a large surface projection, or green sand 
cores, from which point upwards the casting is a solid body 
of iron ; therefore the iron does not rise so fast in this sec- 
tion of the mould, thereby causing the top surface of a green 
sand core or projection to be slowly covered with the ris- 
ing iron, which will cause such parts to scab very easy, if 
the greatest care and judgment are not used. 



246 SCABBING OF GKEEJs SAND MOULDS, ETC. 

For such cases it is a good thing to mix some sharp sand, 
like lake or bank sand, in with the moulding sand, using 
this mixture as a facing sand. For the top surface of a pro- 
jection or core, a mixture, such as one part of lake or 
bank sand, mixed with two of moulding sand, will allow 
the surface to be firmly rammed, and still be open enough 
to allow the rising iron to quietly lay on it, no matter 
how long it is before a pressure or body of iron is raised 
ujjon it. Projections or cores in a mould generally need 
to be rammed and rodded well, and are the parts that 
need the greatest care. It is also important to keep all 
risers and feeding heads closed air tight, as, when they are 
open on this class of work, the air rushes out, taking the 
pressure of the air and gases off the surface of the pro- 
jection or cores. As the lower part of the mould fills up 
first, the gases and vent from it will be drawn by the escap- 
ing current of air through the risers. This combined cur- 
rent, in escaping, lifts or starts the surface of the projec- 
tions, and when the iron comes up to it, the iron fills up all 
the vent holes and sets the mould blowing. A blowing 
mould from this cause is a dangerous one. In some cases 
it will not stop until all the iron is blown out of the mould. 
The above are a few of the many reasons for lost and scabby 
castings in green and sand moulds. 

As regards scabbing in loam and dry sand moulds, the 
first and greatest cause is in not having the mould well 
dried, as the steam generated in process of casting acts on 
this class of work in the same manner as it does on green 
sand work. The only difference is, that sometimes the loam 
or dry sand buckles, or is pushed out into the molten iron. 
This buckhng is caused by confined steam, gases, air, or 
some kinds of close sand. The buckling in such cases is 
not like a green sand scab. When the casting is taken 
from the sand, a few blows with a hammer upon the scab- 



SCABBTTs^G OF GREEN" SAND MOULDS, ETC. 24? 

bed spot will cause the lumps of sand to fly out, leaving 
holes in the casting. In the case of a green sand scab, the 
sand is generally found in some other j)art of the casting. In 
loam or dry sand there is not the amount of air or gases to 
be carried off by vents that there is in green sand. It is 
only in pockets, corners, and under flanges that it becomes 
necessary to carry oft* vents directly. With a mould well 
dried, and the loam, sand, and blacking mixed in the proper 
proportions, there is very little danger of scabs. Having 
had about an equal practice in the three branches, I can 
safely say, that green sand work, so far as scabbing is con- 
cerned, is the most difficult to contend with. Little does a 
looker-on know of the unseen injury to castings which a 
moulder can do by ramming the different parts of his 
mould too lightly or too heavily. 



248 CONTRACTION OF CASTINGS. 



CONTRACTION AND CRACKING OF CAST- 
INGS. 

The query of why a casting cracks, is generally looked 
upon as a conundrum ; at least the different answers to the 
question, and the different theories on the subject, would 
lead one to think so. There are very few things about a 
foundry that seems to be so little understood as the con- 
traction of iron when cooling. Few appear to know 
whether there is any difference in the contraction of thin 
and thick castings, hard or soft iron. Is the contraction 
of iron gradual, or is it true that castings have little or no 
contraction vertically, as is thought to be the case by a 
writer on "Why don't Castings Shrink Vertically ?" in 
the American Machinist, March 26, 1881, and signed 
"Moulder." 

The Avriter of the article referred to will please excuse 
me for not noticing it before. My only excuse is that I 
was waiting to see if some one else would not answer it. 

My opinion is that castings do shrink vertically, v.liich 
opinion is borne out l:)y experience and by practical tests 
which I have made. 

Not long since I had two patterns made, 54" long by 
one inch square. These patterns were moulded in two 
flasks. One flask was suspended so as to cast the mould 
vertically, and the other was cast horizontally. AVhen 
moulding the one that w^as to be cast vertically, care was 
taken to ram it so that there would be no straining on the 
sides, and to prevent the lower end from ctraining there 



CONTRACTION AND CEACKING OF CASTINGS. 249 

was an iron chill rammed firmly up against the end of the 
pattern. These two flasks were cast out of the same small 
ladle of iron. If " Moulder " will try his theory by tlie above 
practical test, he will see Avhether it is not correct, for he 
will not be able to tell, so far as the contraction is con- 
cerned, which of the castings were cast vertically. This is 
as fair a test as could be made to determine whether cast- 
ings contract vertically or not. The moulder may say he 
has measured castings that have been cast vertically, and 
found no contraction. This may be all true enough. 
There are lots of castings thus made which will measure 
longer than the pattern. So also many castings cast hori- 
zontally have been found to be larger than the pattern. 
Again the question could be asked, "What is the cause of 
this ?" to answer which it can be said : " The straining of 
moulds." 

A moulder or pattern maker that has had experience in 
making heavy rolls will, or should, always make the lower 
end of a swept mould, or the pattern, smaller than the end 
that is cast up. How much smaller will depend on the 
length and body of the casting. The difference will vary 
from y'g- up to 5 of an inch. 

I have seen a rolling mill boss come into a foundry with 
such fire in his eyes that the poor moulder has trembled 
all over when asked, "Why in the name of common sense 
lie could not make the lower end of his rolls the same size 
as the upper end, and not have the wabbler so much too 
large that it would take a good chipper a week to chip it 
so as to have the coupling that goes easy on the top end fit 
the bottom end ? " 

That castings contract vertically has often been proved in 

making rolls. I have seen the upper wabblers cracked and 

l)ulled off from the neck of rolls, from no other cause than 

the contraction of the casting, and the carelessness of the 

11* 



250 CONTRACTIOl^ OF CASTINGS. 

moulder. That is, when feeding up his roll with hot iron 
to supply the shrinkage, he would let a flange form on top 
of his feeding head, so as to come out and rest on the iron 
flask or boxes that are used for forming the feeding head, 
and when the cooling crust commenced to contract it was 
held up by this flange. Of course it formed a crack or 
breakage in the neck, or wabblers, because the half molten 
metal was not strong enough to lift up the whole roll from 
the bottom of the mould. 

In moulding castings that are cast vertically there is gen- 
erally more or less straining of the bottom portion of the 
mould, which in many cases cannot be avoided. Loam 
and dry sand moulds are strained more or less, but of course 
not so much as green sand moulds. To know whether a cast- 
ing has contracted vertically or not, it is necessary to take 
exact measurements of the mould (not the pattern or sweep), 
as there is often a difference between the mould and the 
sweep or jiattern. 

After the casting comes out, compare the measuring rod 
or stick with it, carefully note and allow for evident strain- 
ing. I think it will be found that the casting has con- 
tracted as much vertically as it would horizontally, were it 
possible to have cast it so. There are often castings poured 
horizontally that, if measured, would not only show no con- 
traction, but would be larger than the pattern they were 
moulded from, especially if the castings were heavy. 

Cores will sometimes greatly prevent the free contraction 
of a casting. Sometimes light proportioned castings, having 
cores surrounded with metal, will crack, from there not 
being body enough of iron to press the cores together. 
When iron is run all around cores, and the thickness of 
iron is over one inch, the cores Avill expand so as to force 
iron up through the feeding heads, risers, and pouring gates. 
Should the toi)S of the gates get frozen soon after the mould 



COKTRACTIOiq" AND CRACKING OF CASTINGS. 251 

is poured, so as not to allow the expanded iron to come out 
through the gates, the iron will press against the sides and 
surfaces of the mould, forcing them outward, and when the 
castings come out, they are sometimes found to be larger, 
or as large, as the pattern ; thus showing, as far as measure- 
ment is concerned, that there has been no contraction. 

The purer or better the grades of iron, the less contrac- 
tion there is. Heavy bodies of iron contract less than light 
ones. The more contraction in iron the more liable are the 
castings to crack. Castings having light and heavy parts 
combined or connected always have a strain on them ; in 
fact, there are very few castings made but have more or less 
of a strain upon them. 

Pattern makers usually allow the same shrinkage on all 
castings. If they would make a small piece the same size 
as some part of a mould to be poured, and have the piece 
moulded and poured from the same iron and at the same 
time the main casting is poured, they would find that gen- 
erally the iron contracts differently in the two cases. 

The moulder, when drawing these test pieces, must be 
very careful not to rap them end-ways. 

It is not the pattern makers that are to blame for the 
prevailing ignorance of the different contraction of iron in 
light and heavy castings. It is the foremen and proprietors 
of the foundry, for allowing the pattern maker to use the 
same shrink rule for every pattern he makes. 

When a casting comes out too large, the first thing that 
is thought of is to swear that the pattern maker has made 
the pattern too large. When it is measured and found to 
be right, they come to the conclusion that the moulder has 
let his mould strain too much, which is an admirable corner 
to crawl out of. 

If proprietors of foundries would order their foi-emen, 
also their pattern makers, to take measurements for one 



252 



CONTRACTION AND CRACKING OF CASTINGS. 



month of all the different forms of castings that they may 
be called upon to cast, at least all that are large and of dif- 
ferent proportions ; also, during this month's experiments, 
make test bars of all the different grades of iron that are 
used in the foundry, and after making note of their con- 
traction then try 
their tensile or break- 
ing strain, something 
would be learned. To 
do all this requires no 
great labor or time. 
Moulders that take an 
interest in their trade 
could, whenever they 
make a casting of any 
note, test the contrac- 
tion and keep a record 
of experiments that 
would be valuable. 

The moulder or imt- 
tern maker is not al- 
ways responsible for 
the breaking or crack- 
ing of a casting. The 
designer or draughts- 
man often designs 
forms that the best 
of iron and manage- 
ment Avould not pre- 
Sometimes castings will stand in the 
shop for weeks, and even months, and, to the surprise of all, 
will then crack. 

Not long since I had occasion to cast a bar 4" x 9", and 
14 feet long. With the same quality of iron I cast a test 




•;« ■ o 




n 



.i.- 



I<HJ 



vent from cracking. 



CONTRACTIOIS" AN^D CRACKING OF CASTINGS. 253 

bar exactly the same length, and |" x 2', both of wliich 
are shown at Fand D, The contraction of the thick bar 
was only J", while that of the thin one was If", or a differ- 
ence of J". This gives some idea of the strain that is 
always m castings that are not made of proper proportions, 
and also shows the difference there is in the contraction of 
thin and thick bodies of iron. These simple tests are such 
as any one can make. 

To test the difference of strength between a casting 
poured with hot iron and one poured with dull iron, I made 
two bars, and poured one with the iron hot, and then stir- 
ring and mixing up the rest of the iron with a rod (so as to 
work up the impurities in the iron to the surface), until it 
was as dull as would run with safety, I poured the second 
one. The next day I took the bars, and resting J" of each 
end on a good, solid iron bearing — the one that was 
13oured with hot iron first — commenced by putting on 50 
pounds scale weights in the middle of the bar. Eight 
50 pounds were piled on, but before the weight of the ninth 
one was all on the bar l)roke. 

Now, taking the bar that was poured with dull iron, 
the whole nine weights were piled on, and an additional 
60 pounds' weight, the whole resting on the bar about 
eight seconds, when it broke. That is, the one poured 
dull broke with 510 j^o^^^ds, while the one poured with 
hot iron broke with a weight of between 400 and 450 
pounds. The size of tliese bars way 1" square and 4 feet G" 
long. 

Often a man will go to a foundry to get a bid on some 
plain plates, and thinking that tlie foundry man will put 
poor iron into them, he will ask for a low figure. He gets 
his low figures ; also gets the*poor iron in liis plates. Com- 
mon plate castings require as good iron as the common run 
of machinery castings ; in fact, there are very few castings 



254 COKTRACTIOiq^ OF CASTINGS. 

made but should have fairly good iron put into them, with 
the exception of such pieces as sash weights. 

Often plates are made with holes to lighten them, or for 
some special purpose. When holes are made in castings for 
lightening them, the castings will be stronger for having 
the holes round, oblong, or oval, instead of having them 
square. Sometimes, when square holes are made in cast- 
ings, they will crack, as shown at P ; Avhereas, if the corner 
is rounded, as shown at ^, it will not crack. A heavy rib 
X, cast on to strengthen square holes, will sometimes do 
more Jiarm than good, as it causes a strain by making the 
casting disj)roportionate. 

I have seen castings having on them heavy projections, 
flangos, or ribs crack, that, were they cast without these 
parts, would stand a great blow or weight upon them before 
cracking or breaking. Cracks generally start from some 
thin or sharp corner, and, when once started, run through 
the entire body of the casting, the thick portions offering 
no more resistance, apparently, than the thin. A moulder, 
when making a new casting, should study the points or 
sharp corners that will be subject to strains, or dispropor- 
tionate contraction ; and, if possible, have the sharp cor- 
ners made rounding, and the thin or thick portions made 
heavier or lighter. Should he be told that it will not do to 
change these parts, he then, should the casting crack (pro- 
viding that he has done all that he could to uniformly cool 
it), is not to be held responsible. Often castings crack that 
Avould not, had the heavy portions been exposed to the air 
as soon as they would admit of it. 

Some may say, with better iron the castings would not 
crack. This is all true enough in many cases. A good, 
strong iron, having very little contraction about it, would 
almost make a surety of making a casting of extreme pro- 
portions without liability of cracking ; but this is not the 



I 



CONTRACTION AND CRACKING OF CASTINGS. 255 

kind of iron we usually have to deal with. Of course the 
pig-iron merchant tells us his iron is possessed of all these 
qualities, and, not having means of knowing till we buy a 
car load or so, which is never found better than recom- 
mended, but which on hand must be used. 

The best brands of iron that can be had will never have 
two shipments alike. The trial lot may be very fair, on the 
strength of which you may make a large order, which, 
when received, will very seldom be as good as the first. 

The cut shown of a fly-wheel, having the hub split be- 
tween every arm, is a good plan to adoj^t when making 
large pulleys, fly-wheels, or gears having cast-iron arms. A 
wheel made in this way can be relied on. Each arm being 
a separate casting by itself, when it contracts it is free from 
any strain or pull, as is the case when the hub is made in 
one solid casting. Castings made this way are banded with 
wrought rings, and the opening in the hub filled with 
babbitt. 

When a wheel of any description has cast-iron arms, rim, 
and hub all one piece, there is generally a strain on the 
arms or rim of the wheel, in extent depending on the pro- 
portion of the rim and arms. If the rim is light and the 
arms heavy, we may look for a cracked rim, caused by the 
thin rim contracting faster and more than the arms. Again, 
the arms will be the part to crack, caused by the rim being 
too heavy. In either instance this generally happens while 
the casting is yet hot and in the sand. 

In the case of pulleys, etc., having the arms crack after 
the casting "is taken out of the sand, we have a more com- 
plicated state of affairs to deal with. In pulleys having 
heavy arms, compared with the rim, we often see the heavy 
arms cracked, the light rim remaining whole. In looking 
at such castings it will be observed tliat the hub is heavy 
in proportion to the arm3 and rim. This hub is the last 



256 CONTRACTION OF CASTINGS. 

portion of the pulley to become solid ; the rim, being light, 
has become solid, and is already contracting, driving before 
it the half-molten arms into the yet liquid iron in the heayy 
hub. When the hub solidifies, it contracts, pulling with it 
the arms, causing a strain, which, when the pulley gets a 
slight jar, will make the arms crack at the weakest point. 

The same principle is involved in light-armed pulleys 
as in heavy ones ; that is, so far as the heavy hub is con- 
cerned. 

When there is a heavy hub required, it should be cooled 
as soon as possible by stripping around it, taking out the 
core, and cooling with water. 

Above everything, as regards the contraction and crack- 
ing of castings, we should not forget that a thin body of 
iron will contract more than a thick body, and, whenever 
there is a casting formed disproportionately, there is always 
more or less strain on some portion of it. And also massive 
castings are subject to exterior and interior strains, as will 
be seen by the following discussion: 

The question is asked. Why a heavy body of iron will not 
contract as much as a light one ? 

Knowing such to be the case, it must also be acknowl- 
edged that there must be a cause, and as this is one of those 
subjects that practical tests can very seldom be applied to, 
the following theory is presented: 

When castings cool, some of their parts always cool faster 
than others, and the parts that cool the first are the exterior 
or outward portions. Often there are castings cooled 
solid on the outside, while the inside portion is perhaps 
in a molten state. To discuss this question we will tiike the 
size of the castings shov/n in the cut, one being 4" X 9", 
and the other i^" x 2", the moulds for each being 14 feet 
long. These were cast with the same irou, and at the 
same time. Now let us watch the process of cooling. 



I 



CONTRACTION^ AND CRACKING OF CASTINGS. 257 

The light one soon commences to cool, and we see it con- 
tracting. The outside portion of the thick casting com- 
mences to cool, and endeavors to contract also, but it 
cannot. We look at it to determine the reason, and 
inside this cooling crust we know that it is very hot, and 
the further towards the center we go the hotter we find it. 
The inner portions of this casting we know are not yet in 
a state to contract as fast as the outer portions, and when 
a casting becomes entirely cool its contraction ceases. In 
this casting some parts may become cool, and still all parts 
not have contracted as much as the nature of its iron 
requires. There is a certain amount of tensile qualities 
about iron that permits its molecules or particles to be 
stretched to a certain limit, and when this Jimit is exceeded 
the result is a cracked casting. 

Returning back to the cooling casting, we find that the 
slower interior cooling iron will not allow the faster exterior 
cooling iron to contract as much as it should, according to 
the degree of heat it has lost, and by this cooling process 
we have the exterior portion of the casting contracted 
by forces which hold it back from contracting as much as 
it should. Now, when the interior portion contracts, it 
finds the same resisting forces to prevent its natural con- 
traction, the exterior having lost most of its heat, and 
therefore having contracted about all it can, will not permit 
the interior to contract any more than the exterior ; and 
thus, as one holds back, so does the other, and the result is 
that the |" x 2" casting, not having these conflicting forces 
to contend Avith, contracts about all that the grade of iron 
composing it naturally calls for, Avhile with the thick cast- 
ing, 4" X 9", we find the contraction just about one-half of 
what it should be if it had been as free to contract as the 
light casting. Often when looking at solid massive cast- 
ings, cracks are seen running from 3" up to 8 ' long, and 



258 CONTRACTION OF CASTINGS. 

about l" deep ; tliese cracks are usually in sharp angles, and 
their origin can seemingly be attributed to the strain there is 
upon the exterior portion of the casting, caused by the law 
that apparently governs the cooling of thick bodies. 

Iron, when changing from a liquid to a solid state, is said 
to become a mass of crystals, which assume different forms 
and sizes, being regulated by the length of time the casting 
takes to cool, and the temperature of the iron when poured 
into the mould. The lines of crystallization are very seldom 
visible to the eye, except in the cases of chilled iron. In 
castings that are not chilled, the lines of crystallization 
depend upon the direction in which the heat passes off the 
fastest, and with the least resistance. In regard to this 
formation of crystals. Mallet observes: ^*It is a law of the 
molecular aggregation of crystalline solids, that when their 
particles consolidate under the influence of heat in motion, 
their crystals arrange and group themselves with their prin- 
cipal axes, in lines perpendicular to the cooling or heating 
surfaces of the solid." 

Sharp angles, corners, projections, and squares, combined 
in castings, cause them to show lines of crystallization run 
in different directions from some given point, and this 
point, from which the lines of crystallization connects, 
appears like a rope with a number of small strings tied on 
it, and pulled by unseen forces in two opposite directions. 
This rope or section of the casting, from which all these 
strings or lines of crystals radiate, is the weak point of a 
casting, and there are very few castings so shaped but that 
many such weak points appear in them, but for the shape no 
one can be fairly blamed. The moulder, even if he thor- 
oughly understands the problem of crystallization of diffcr- 
ent-shaj^ed castings, could very seldom in practice cool a 
casting so as to cause the crystals to radiate in lines, strength- 
ening the weak points, or change them from their natural 



CONTRACTIOK AND CRACKING OF CASTINGS. 259 

course. If there is to be responsibility placed on any one, 
the designer of castings is the one who should assume the 
greater portion of it. But since he cannot always have a 
design made so that the shape of a casting will allow the 
lines of crystallization to radiate, and thus keep them 
in the most compact form, so that the molecules are not 
sejiarated by any unnatural forces, we should be very careful 
how we censure him. These few remarks here upon the 
crystallization of castings are given to cause the interested 
reader to think and see what a great field there is before us 
to explore, before the problem of cracking and crystalliza- 
tion of castings can be thoroughly understood, and that it 
is a subject on which pages might be written. 



260 FEEDING AI^D SHEI^KAGE OF MELTED IROK. 



FEEDING AND SHRINKAGE OF MELTED IRON. 

The assertion often made by writers, '^ that melted cast 
iron expands at the moment of solidification, so as to copy 
exactly every line of the mould into which it is poured/' 
always sounded to me very odd. The word *^' moment" 
would imply a sudden dividing line between liquid and solid 
iron. In melting iron there is nothing sudden from the 
time it leaves the melter's hands till it is tapped out into a 
ladle, from which time it cools gradually, the time it will 
take to cool depending on the shape and size of the mould 
that the iron is poured into. The amount of expansion cr 
shrinkage will be according to the grade of softness or hard- 
ness of the iron, and the quality of the ores that the iron is 
made from. 

Soft iron is open grained, and when melted has more life 
than hard iron, and may expand some in cooling. Hard 
iron is close grained, melts quicker, and has more shrinkage 
than soft iron. Melted iron, when cooling, cools the fastest 
at the bottom of the mould and at the sides and cope sur- 
faces, which draws molten iron from the hottest or cen- 
tral portion to supply the shrinkage of the cooling parts. 
If this central, or last portion of the iron that cools, is 
not reached with a feeding rod and hot iron to supply the 
shrinkage, the last parts to cool Avill be honeycombed or 
hollow. 

There are often castings that cause explosions or breaks 
through the thickest, and, as is thought, the strongest parts. 
One cause for this is that the castings were not fed in the 



FEEDOG AND SHRINKAGE OF MELTED IRON. 261 

right manner. There are often castings that would require 
a half dozen feeding heads to make all the j^arts solid, and 
in some cases the designers of machinery or the pattern 
makers will have castings disproportional, so that the thick 
portions cannot be fed, or the shrinkage of the heavy parts 
supplied with iron. Such parts would be stronger if they 
were made lighter, and had what iron there was solid, rather 
than heavy, with a honeycombed center. 

The cut Jl shows a round die block that was used in a 
lamji manufactory for j^i'essing a composition of metal. 
There had been several of them made, but, being unsound, 
the pattern was taken to another shop. When the pattern 
was shown to me and the trouble exj^tlained, the first question 
I asked was if there had been a large feeding head used, 
and if they were fed well ? I was answered " Yes." Further 
questioning showed that there were no signs of dirt or holes 
until the casting had trom. |" to 1" turned off it. I gave 
the job to a man I knew was not afraid of a hot job, and saw 
that he got hot iron wheuAvanted. He stuck to it until his 
rod was driven up into the feeding head by solid frozen iron 
below it, and I had the pleasure of telling him that his casting 
was the best and solidest the machinist had ever finished up. 
"What the machinist called dirt, or holes in the bad castings, 
was only honeycombed or porous iron caused by improper 
feeding. One moulder will feed a heavy piece of casting in 
half the time another will take, and-still, to all outside a^opear- 
ances, have it solid ; but should the casting be cut up into 
small pieces, it would appear that he did not feed his cast- 
ing solid, as the iron in the part that remained hot the 
longest would be liable to show holes or be very j^orous. 
Take, for example, solid castings one foot in diameter, 
and let them be cut through the middle, or the outside all 
be turned off until they become balls 3" in diameter; it would 
be safe to say that they would present a very rotten appear- 



262 FEEDING AN^D SHRII^^KAGE OF MELTED IRON^. 

ance, that is, if they were fed as solid heavy castings are gen- 
erally. The length of time that it will take for some liquid 
castings to become solid throughout is very often longer 
than is supposed, and in many cases moulders should modify 
their assertions of a casting being fed solid. 

In setting a feeding head on most patterns it should, if 
possible, be set on the thickest 2:)ortion of the casting, 
or that part of it which will keep the longest hot. The 
feeding head should be of such size that it can be kept open, 
with hot iron until the casting is set. In starting to feed a 
casting, the rod should be put in slow and easy, and if the 
mould is not too deep, it should touch the bottom, and then 
be raised up two or three inches, so that it will not be punch- 
ing holes in the mould. Some moulders, when feeding, 
work their rod up and down in the center, and the sides 
freeze up and close or solidify while the iron in the mould 
is yet in a liquid or molten state ; or they will put a small 
feeder on, that will freeze so quickly that they cannot get a 
rod into it, or if they do, it will stick fast, and then they will 
complain of someone for not bringing hot iron when wanted. 
A moulder should seldom make this excuse. He should have 
the feeding rod hot, and the head the right size ; and 
instead of working the rod in the center, work it up and 
down around the sides quickly, so that the freezing iron will 
be puslied or worked down into the casting, and the hotter 
iron in the casting worked up into the feeding head. This 
keeps the head and casting at the same temperature. 

When you do get hot iron, always have a hole worked in 
the head to hold as much as possible, so that it will help to 
cut away the freezing iron on the side of the head, making 
the iron in the head hotter than in the casting. Put in hot 
iron when there is a good chance to get it, and don't call for 
it just as you see the cupola man going to stop the cupola 
up, or do some other as sensible trick, as putting in the rod 



FEEDIKG AKD SHRINKAGE OF MELTED IROl?". 263 




264 FEEDING AND SHRINKAGE OF MELTED IRON. 

SO that it does not go into the casting, which lets the neck of 
tlie feeder freeze. The rod should be kept down into the 
casting, and let the iron as it freezes at the bottom push it 
up out of the casting. 

There are often cases where the iron or wooden bars of a 
flask will not admit of a proper-sized feeder. In such cases 
where the bars cannot be readily widened, the feeder should 
be built up in length, to make up for the loss in diameter. 
A small feeder closes quicker and takes more hot iron to 
keep it open than a large one. Large feeding heads require 
less work and attention than small ones. With feeders 10" 
and upwards, as soon as the casting is poured, put in the 
feeding rod and work it around for a minute or two to work 
the dirt up to the surface. Then take the iron dipper, as 
shown at D, of which a shop should have three or four sizes — 
the dished part being about 2" deeper and the handles about 4 
feet long — and dip out the dirt and as much of the dull iron 
as is necessary to make room for one or two hundred pounds 
of hot iron. Then work the rod to mix the hot and dull 
iron, and throw on some blacking to keep in the heat. 
After fastening on the holder H, or a pair of blacksmith's 
tongs, to hold up the rod, the moulder can rest from ten to 
thirty minutes, occasionally lifting up the rod to see how the 
iron is, and that it is not freezing at the smallest part or neck 
of the feeder. As soon as the neck shows signs of closing up 
work the rod around to open it and to mix the iron, after 
which dip out some of the dull iron and pour in some hot 
iron, and cover again with blacking. Repeat this operation 
until the iron in the casting commences to stick to the rod, 
then the moulder should give it all his attention, as the 
neck will close up if the feeding rod is not kept in constant 
motion, especially if the iron is hard. 

I was at one time foreman of a shop where rolling-mill 
work was done. The proprietor being a moulder, and 



FEEDIl^G AND SHRINKAGE OF MELTED IRON. ^65 

knowing the failings of some moulders, adopted a plan of 
feeding his large and small rolls a certain length of time. 
Rolls weighing about four tons he would only allow to be fed 
70 minutes. It made no difference whether they were 
poured hot or dull. When the time was up the heads would 
be filled with hot iron and the rods worked to open the neck, 
then taken out and the iron covered with blacking. The 
plan was a good one to accomplish the desired end. 

When a proprietor or foreman thinks that he has no men 
who understand feeding, or who will stick to a hot job, the 
best and surest plan would be to make the feeding heads 
without a neck ; that is, having the feeder the same size 
at the bottom as at the top. Then let the head be cut off 
in the lathe, as is done in the manufacture of cannon or 
large guns. In such work the gun is cast from 2 to 5 feet 
longer than wanted, the extra length answering for a feeding 
head. 

In writing tliis article, the subjects chosen are castings 
that cause trouble from shrinkage, and are good ones to show 
the principle of feeding and shrinkage. 

The cut P shows a broken pump of the kind used on a 
locomotive, and when the castings were bored out they 
would be porous and dirty in the heavy section. To remedy 
this they were cast in dry sand, and on end, but with no 
better result. The thickness of iron on each side of the 
heavy part is only J", and the heavy part 3" thick. My 
attention was called to the job, and seeing the trouble, I 
made two or three castings in green sand, and with a feeder 
cut into the heavy section, as shown. The casting bored 
out solid and clean. Casting them in dry sand, and on 
end, would not make the thick part sound, as the thin part 
would freeze before the thick, and the iron to supply the 
shrinkage would have to be withdrawn from the upper and 
hottest portion to supply the shrinkage below ; so that in 
12 



266 FEEDIN^G AN'D SHRII^KAGE OF MELTED IRON-. 

boriDg the heavy section the part that was down would be 
solid, and the upper part porous or honeycombed. 

I have often seen castings go out of the foundry that were re- 
quired to stand heavy strains or pressures, which, if the party 
that received them had understood the feeding of melted 
iron and had seen them fed, would never have been accepted. 
It is not altogether ignorance on the part of the moulder, 
but the desire to get rid of a hard and hot job, that is the 
main cause of ill-fed castings. There are very few heavy 
castings that are fed so as not to be somewhat porous. In 
such castings as levers, etc., that must stand strains or 
blows, the point or section of the castings which has to 
stand the greatest strain is not generally the point that 
feeders should be put at ; it is better, in case of a long lever, 
for instance, to set the feeding head at one end, if the end 
or portion is thick enough to be kept in a liquid or molten 
state as long as the heavier parts that receive no hot metal. 
Where feeders are set is generally a point of weakness, as this 
point is not the same grade of iron ; and it is also from this 
l)oint, on account of its being supplied with hot feeding iron, 
that the other portions of the casting draw iron to supply 
shrinkage ; and if the greatest of care and judgment is not 
used there is always more or less danger of there being a 
porousness or holes below feeding heads, thus causing tliat 
part of a casting to be weak. Even when the casting has 
been fed perfectly solid and compact, the mixture of a 
foreign grade of iron at this point is sufficient to cause a 
weakness. When setting feeders on a pattern the moulder 
should know whether the casting is required to have a solid 
finish, or if strength is required. The close reader and 
thinker will see that there is a difference. 



■ 



BURNIITG OR MENDIN^G HEAVY CASTINGS. 267 



BURNING OR MENDING HEAVY CASTINGS. 

The princqile employed in the process herein described 
for burning a new neck and wabbler upon the end of a 
broken cast-iron roll, such as is used for rolling iron, steel, 
and other ductile metals, may, with a display of moderate 
skill and judgment, be practically applied for burning or 
mending a variety of heavy broken castings. 

The object of this process is in mending heavy castings, 
to avoid the expense of making new ones, and, if properly 
performed, it is very economical, and will save much time, 
labor, and expense. 

The most essential points to be observed in mending 
heavy castings by this process are as follows : The melted 
iron must be very hot, and of a medium soft quality, for 
the hard iron chills quickly, and therefore does not perfectly 
cement or unite with the broken surface of the casting. 

An outlet must be provided to allow the melted iron to 
escape from the mould as soon as it is poured in, particu- 
larly at first, as the hot metal is liable to chill. The hot 
metal should fall directly upon the surface of the fracture, 
and, after beginning to pour, a uniform, steady, cutting 
stream of iron should l)e kept flowing from an elevation as 
high as possible. In burning the neck and wabbler upon a 
roll, the larger the roll the more successful will be the opera- 
tion, on account of the larger surface for the melted iron to 
burn or cut into, thus uniting more perfectly. 

As a preliminary operation, the roll should be made as 
hot as possible in the foundry oven, after which it should 



268 BURNIN^G OR MEKDING HEAVY CASTINGS. 

be lowered into a hole preyiously dug in the foundry floor, 
keei^ing the broken end even witli the level of the floor, as 
shown in the engraving upon page 269, after which tlic hole 
should be quickly filled with sand, rammed up solid, par- 
ticularly around the top of the roll. The surface of the 
fracture should be chipped all over, so as to break the skin 
of the metal and remove the rust. 

The Avabbler and neck must be moulded in dry sand, for 
if made in green sand the falling melted iron would cut the 
moulds all to pieces. These moulds should be made in sec- 
tions, as shown in the illustration, where 2 represents the 
mould for the neck, and 3 the mould for the wabbler, 
while 4 is for the riser or feeding head. 

The flask 2 has three places cut out at the bottom edge, 
A, By C, which are for openings to allow the melted iron to 
freely escape while the neck is being burnt on. As soon as 
the roll has been securely placed, the flask 2 should be put 
in position, care being observed to keep the opening for the 
neck exactly in the center of the roll, to allow for turning 
up the journal in a lathe. Pigs of iron or other suitable 
heavy weights should be placed upon the handles X, X, to 
hold down the flask. If an air furnace is used in the 
foundry, three basins should be formed, one opposite each 
of the openings A, B, C, to catch the waste iron; but if there 
is no air furnace at hand, then a pig bed should be made, 
throwing the spare sand around the joint between the roll 
and flask, so that there can be no run-out. The sand 
should be cleaned away from the outlets, and runners made 
leading to the places formed for catching the waste iron. 
Sometimes, if there is a mould that can stand pouring with 
dull iron, a ladle may be sunk down into the floor to catch 
and save the iron. If the iron should be likely to run upon 
the face of the roll at the outlets, it should be smeared with 
oil at those points to prevent the melted metal from adher- 



BURNIKG OR MEKDII^G HEAVY CASTINGS. 269 




PROCESS OP MENDING HEAVY CASTINGS. 



270 BUKNIKG OR MEKDIKG HEAVY CASTINGS. 

ing to it. In commencing to pour the iron, the ladle 
should be held very low, and then gradually raising the 
ladle until the metal will have a fall of about four feet. 
The ladle is supposed to be handled by a requisite number 
of men not shown. The man in charge of the process can 
easily ascertain if there are any places upon the surface of 
the fracture where the melted metal is not cutting, by 
means of tlue bent rod D, and the molten stream directed 
upon those places. Some small pieces of tin or zinc should 
be kept at hand, and by constantly throwing them into the 
mould the iron in the holes that are burnt is thereby made 
hotter than it would be otherwise. 

The iron should be poured until only about five hundred 
pounds remain in the ladle; the openings, A,B,C, should 
then be stopped with a stopping stick and clay ; then fill 
the neck neatly full of metal. 

A protecting ring, not shown (which is a thin plate of 
metal, having a hole in the center, the same size as the 
neck, and is placed on top of the flask to prevent the falling 
stream of hot iron from cutting away the edge of the 
mould), should be lifted off at once by means of handles at- 
tached to it ; tlien skim off all the dirt and slag from the 
surface of the metal, after which the wabbler mould 3 
should be quickly placed upon the flask 2, and the feeding 
head 4 upon the top of the flask 3. These flasks should be 
securely held by placing heavy weights upon the top, after 
which the mould should be quickly filled and fed with 
metal until it solidifies. If the neck has been burned suc- 
cessfully, the old or original neck will generally be the first 
to break. In regard to the amount of iron necessary to 
complete the operation described, I may say that it depends 
entirely upon the nature of the casting to be mended. 
For a roll weighing from 5,000 to 7,000 pounds, it will take 
about 1,800 pounds for burning on wabblers or neck, while 



BURl^ING OR MENDING HEAVY CASTINGS. 271 

on small rolls, about 1,200 pounds of metal will be required. 
The cost of the process is comparatively small, and saves 
the trouble and expense of turning up a new roll, besides 
effecting a great saving in time, which is a very essential 
point in rolling mills. 



272 CHILLED CAST-IKOI^ CASTINGS. 



CHILLED CAST-IRON CASTINGS. 

The surface part of a casting that is wanted to retain a 
certain shape, size, and smoothness, and to withstand a con- 
stant wear and tear, can, in most cases, be chilled when cast 
by having iron to form the shape instead of sand. The iron 
mould or chill, when made of cast iron, should be of the best 
strong iron, having very little contraction, as the sudden 
heating of the surface by the melted iron is liable to crack 
it, or in a short time the face will be full of small cracks or 
raised blisters. When melted gray iron is poured around or 
against the surface of solid iron, it is chilled from ¥' to 1" in 
depth, depending on the hardness and closeness of the iron 
the mould is poured with. In order to chill this iron as 
deep as 1^" and upward, there must be some cast steel melted 
in the cupola. The proportion will dejDend on the quality 
of the iron and steel used. Steel borings can be put into 
the ladles and let the hot iron mix with them ; but the best 
plan is to have some old steel castings, or pieces of steel rails, 
and melt them in the cupola, and when the iron is in the 
ladle, mix or stir the metal with a large rod. With strong, 
close iron, about one part of steel to five parts of iron will 
cause a chill of 1^". Iron for maTcing cliilled castings sJioidd 
be strong, as chilling iron impairs its strength. An iron that 
contracts very little in cooling is of the greatest importance 
in Iceeping chilled castings from checking or cracking. 

I had reason at one time for studying the cause of chilled 
castings being bad. I was working in a shop where they 
made some small chilled rolls, about 10" in diameter and 



CHILLED CAST-IROK CASTINGS. 273 

14" long. The thickness of chill for chilling the roll was 
34^". The top and bottom necks and wabblers were moulded 
in dry sand. The job was given to me, and I moulded and 
cast three at a heat. Out of the first three there was only 
one good one, and I was told that I was lucky at that, and 
that the proprietors would give a good deal if they could 
make their own rolls, as they had to send away and pay a 
heavy price for them. 

These rolls had to be chilled 1| " deep, as there were grooves 
turned in them for rolling bar iron, and when the grooves 
got worn out of true they were turned again. After study- 
ing the trouble over, I cast three more with good results, 
and from that on there was no more trouble with them. 

Melted iron, when jDOured inside of a chill, similar to a 
roll or car-wheel chill, cools and forms a shell in a very short 
time, the thickness of which will depend on the hardness 
and temperature of the iron. In small rolls and wheels 
it is during the course of the first two or three minutes that 
the checking or cracking generally takes place ; for as soon 
as melted iron commences to freeze, it starts to contract 
more or less, and as the shell thus formed becomes cool, or 
half molten, it contracts, so that the contracting shell has 
to stand, or hold in the pressure of the liquid iron inside. 
Should the mould not be dead level, the inside liquid metal 
will have the most pressure at the lowest point of the shell, 
and will cause this part to burst open. A check or crack 
never starts at the top part of a mould, but always at the 
bottom, and if you look closely at one of these cracks you 
will see it is the largest at the bottom and running up to 
nothing. In some cases you can see where the inside liquid 
iron has flowed out, and partly filled up the crack. 

I have often asked car-wheel moulders why it was they 
cooled their iron to a certain temperature, and they would 
answer : Because it keeps the wheels from cracking. Some 



274 



CHILLED CAST-IR0:N^ CASTIN^GS. 



days, when they would have three or four wheels cracked, 
when asked what was the matter, they Avould say that the 
melter did not mix his iron right. , So far as mixing the 
iron is concerned, it will stand a deal of excuses ; but it is a 
poor excuse for a moulder to put the blame on the melter 
for three or four bad wheels out of a heat of sixteen. I 
think if he would make a straight-edge that would reach 
across the top and come down on to the turned level face of 
the chill, and then level his flasks, instead of dumping them 
in any shape, the poor melter would not get blamed so much 
as he does for cracked wheels. 

In making chilled rolls the temperature of the iron is as 
important a point as it is in the manufacture of car-wheels. 
The iron should be poured dull, for the duller tlie iron the 
quicker and thicker is the outside shell formed, thereby 
offering a stronger resistance to the pressure of the inside 
liquid iron. Of course, the moulder must use his judgment 
in cooling off the iron, for if too dull the face of the chilled 
part will be cold shut, and look dirty. The rolls should be 
poured quickly at the bottom neck and the gates cut, so as 
to whirl the iron and keep all dirt in the center and away 
from the face of the chill. 

When the mould is full and the iron seems to require 
feeding, from the way the feeding head is made, do not put 
in the feeding rod until the neck is about to freeze up. 
When you do put it in, don't ram it down suddenly, so as to 
cause a pressure on the contracting shell, which would be 
liable to crack it. When feeding, work the rod slowly. In 
Pittsburgh, a great center for the manufacture of chilled 
rolls, they do not feed their rolls at all. The feeding 
heads are made long, without a neck on them ; they are 
made tlie full size of the wabblers, and then cut off in the 
lathe. In pouring the rolls the iron is taken from an air 
furnace into a large ladle, and, after being cooled to tlie re- 



CHILLED CAST-IRO>s' CASTINGS. 275 

quired temperature, the iron is poured into the moulds by 
basins that are made very large, so as to be able to keep the 
dirt out and have the iron go in fast. As soon as the mould 
is filled to the top of the wabbler the pouring is stopped, and 
then the balance of the feeding head is filled up with hot 
iron, carried in liand-ladles from the cupola. Some of the 
large-sized rolls have feeder heads from three up to four feet 
long cast on them. The heads are made nearly the size of 
the body of the roll, from 3" or 4" above the top of the 
wabbler up to the top of the head. As soon as the heads are 
filled up with iron, they can then be covered with sand, and 
they will then feed the casting without any further handling. 

It is better to make the chills as hot, as by heating them 
in the oven the iron will lay closer and make a smoother 
casting against a hot chill than when poured against a cold 
one. 

By having the mould dead level the pressure will be equal 
all around. Whenever there is a check or crack, it is caused 
by unequal pressure of the confined liquid metal against the 
contracting shell ; and, whether some moulders believe it 
beneficial or not, to have a chill mould level, when being 
cast, they will acknowledge that when a chilled casting 
checks or cracks, the point which is thus cracked must 
have had the greatest amount of pressure upon it, and, 
although castings are well cast with moulds not level, the 
worst cases would be less if the moulds were leveled. 



276 MAKIi^G CHILLED CASTINGS SMOOTH. 



MAKING CHILLED CASTINGS SMOOTH. 

To make chilled castings without having them streaked or 
cold shut is a a^ ery important feature, and one that has caused 
a deal of trouble in certain classes of work, such as anvil or 
die blocks, which are usually cast with the chill lying hori- 
zontally. When the moulder pours his mould he will start 
slow and easy, being afraid of spilling the iron or cutting 
the runner ; and, when the casting comes out, it will not 
have a smooth face. The excxise will be dull iron, or the 
men did not stand still, or did not hoist the crane v/hen told 
to do so, or something else. '^He is a poor moulder who 
cannot make a good excuse," is thought to be a good adage 
among moulders, and I think it is, too ; for there are some 
moulders who would not sleep two nights in the week if they 
thought their excuses w^re discredited. Li point of fact, it 
is more co7isoling to the ynind to frame an excuse than it is to 
study the cause and find the fault is in our own ignorance. 

Whenever a moulder has trouble with his work, he should 
study the cause before making the piece the second time. 
Any moulder who follows this plan knows its value, not only 
in making good work, but in enabling him to understand 
cause and effect, and the principles of his trade. 

In studying a plan for making flat chilled faces smooth, I 
made the runner and gates large ; and if a crane ladle were 
used, the basin should be made large, and the top of the 
runner have an iron cone plug (as shown in a recent article 
on moulding heavy castings in green sand) to close it np ; 
and, when the basin is about full of iron, lift up this plug. 



MAKING CHILLED CASTINGS SMOOTH. 277 

and in goes the iron with a rush, and immediately cov- 
ers over the face or surface of the chill Avith a body sufficient 
to keep down any tendency of the iron to boil, which is caused 
by hot iron coming in contact with cold. When iron is 
poured so as to run into the mould as it first comes from the 
ladle, the bottom is covered slowly, and the casting is gener- 
ally sure to look streaked and dirty on the face. 

There are blocks aiid dies cast flat that could be cast on a 
slant, or perpendicularly, thus causing the iron as it is poured 
to cover or rise on the face of the chill in a body. When 
iron is j^oured or run so that it immediately covers any section 
of the chill that it strikes, there is very little danger of the 
casting being cold shut or streaked, unless it should be caused 
from using a new chill or one that has not been used for some 
time, or from the effect of bad oil or too much of it. It is 
always best to take new chills, or those that have been lying 
idle, and pour some melted iron on or in them to heat them 
before they are wanted. This will burn off any rust or scale 
that may have collected on them. When oil is used for rub- 
bing the face of a chill it should be light and clear, and very 
little should be used. When too much oil, or when black, 
heavy oil is used, it burns when the hot iron comes in contact 
with it, forming a heavy gas that will throw the iron back 
from the face of the chill, and cause it to bubble and boil, 
and to generate a dirty scum that will mix with the iron and 
make the face of the casting look dirty. Whenever I use oil 
for this purpose I use coal oil, as it is light, and, I think, the 
best. The use of oil on the chills is to preserve them and 
keep the hot iron from cementing or cutting into them. On 
castings that the iron as it runs into the mould does net 
strike the face of the chill, you will often get a smoother 
face by not using any oil at all, provided the chill Is in con- 
stant use. 

The proper temperature of the iron when poured will de- 



278 MAKING CHILLED CASTINGS SMOOTH. 

pend on yarious circumstances, and tlie moulder must use 
his judgment in this respect. This temperature has much 
to do in many instances with the checking or cracking of 
castings, so that in pouring them with hot iron, while the 
j)rospect of getting a smooth face may be better, the danger 
of losing the casting from checking will be materially in- 
creased. In the instance of heavy castings, there is also a 
liability that the iron, if too hot, will eat into the face of the 
chill and unite it to the casting. 



SPLITTIi^^G PULLEYS Ai^^D OTHER CASTINGS. 279 



SPLITTING PULLEYS AND OTHER • 

CASTINGS. 

It is often necessary to cast pulleys, gear-wheels, fly- 
wheels, etc., whole, and split them in halves after casting, 
for convenience m handling or fastening to a shaft. The 
splitting of such castings has not always been a success, 
from the effects of which both moulders and machinists 
have been annoyed. There are .several ways of splitting 
such castings, and what would be good for one style would 
not do for another. I have seen wrought-iron plates set in 
the mould to split heavy and light castings, and although 
the plates were painted with blacking, coal-tar, oil, or rosin, 
the iron would eat into them, so that in trying to split the 
casting it would be broken, or it would take much time and 
labor to split it. A plan that I found to work successfully 
for such castings, was to use two plates instead of one, and 
if it is preferable to have the plates stick to the casting, so 
that in fitting together it will not be necessary to handle 
loose plates, it would be better not to paint them at all. If 
it is thought the iron will not adhere to the plates, holes 
may be drilled nearly through them, from the sides against 
which the iron will run ; or the holes may be drilled quite 
through, if care is taken that they do not come opposite 
each other in the two plates. This plan will make a sure 
thing of splitting a casting without any trouble, and when 
the casting is placed together again, it will generally be the 
same circle or shape that it was before it was divided, and 
without ajiy fitting on the part of the machinist. In using 



280 SPLITTING PULLEYS AND OTHER CASTINGS. 

these plates, if the casting requires them to be very long, 
there might be trouble caused by their expansion and con- 
traction ; if they are required to be over two feet long, they 
could be used by having the plates made in short sections, 
so as to be set into a mould. For some classes of work cast- 
iron plates, made the required shape and size, might be pre- 
ferred, as the iron will adhere to them better, and be less 
liable to show the joint. There are moulds in which the 
double plates cannot be made to stand up together. In 
such cases the two plates may be fastened together with two 
small rivets near their ends, so that they can be easily 
opened. The accompanying cut represents the plan and 
elevation of a split pulley, and shows a good way of using 
cores for splitting a casting, so that when put together 
there will be no fitting required. There are very few jobs 
that the foundry man dislikes more than splitting pulleys 
from whole patterns. Wliether they are made from a draw 
or a split pattern makes very little difference. Not many 
years back it was thought a great favor to get a pulley cast 
in halves. Nowadays they are ordered the same as other 
castings, and, as a rule, they are expected at the same price as 
plain pulleys, although it takes about twice as long to make 
them. I have said to parties, *^I can show you some nice 
split patterns, just the size you want every way," and their 
answer would be, " 0, I guess you had better make them 
from the- whole pattern, and split them, as it will save me 
time in planing and fitting." Of course the result would 
be tliey must be made as wanted, or the custom of the par- 
ties lost to the foundry. Having split pulleys in almost 
every way, I think the plan as herewith shown to be good. 
The hub of the pulley shows a lug, X, X, on each side. A 
core from |" to f " thick cuts through the top and bottom. 
The iron at the edges of the core should be of a thickness 
to crack open easily, and still luive bearing enough to hold 



SPLITTIKG PULLEYS AND OTHER CASTINGS. 



281 



the joints strong when bolted together to be turned and 
bored out. There are two styles of lugs, or ears, shown on 
the rim for bolting 
the halves together. 
The round, separate 
lugs B, B, are made 
in a core box, and 
when ramming up 
the ])ulley, set the 
dry sand lug core 
against the pattern, 
and ram them up. 
The opposite lug is 
made with a piece 
of pattern with core 
print on the bottom, 
to set in the long, 
flat core, as shown 
at D. This splitting 
core D is sometimes 
run half-way into 
the rim of the pul- 
ley, in tlie form of 
a sharp V ; this will make the splitting of the rim easier. 
This latter form of lug is used for light and heavy pulleys. 
In splitting these pulleys the job is generally left to the 
machinist, and I think the best plan is to split them open 
before boring or turning, as the chisel marks -can then be 
all turned out, and a truer pulley made than by splitting 
after finishing. 




282 STRAIGHTENING CROOKED CASTINGS. 



STKAIGHTENING CROOKED CASTINGS. 

'^ Which way will my casting go ?" is a question that is 
often asked. To answer this question correctly eyery time 
would be a yery hard task. The moulder may be very well 
versed in the cooling and contraction of castings, but some- 
times a complicated piece will come along that will puzzle 
him. In some castings the sooner some of the parts are 
cooled the less liability there is of the casting being crooked, 
while again there are others that require to be cooled from 
some certain temperature. 

There are two reasons for castings warping. The first is 
ill-proportioned thickness ; the second, the allowing of some 
i:)arts to cool before others. To these a third reason might 
be added, viz., the quality of the iron. Bad proportion is, 
perhaps, the chief cause for warped castings. 

The two sketches illustrate the straightening of a crooked 
casting, and also how gates and runners often make castings 
crooked. 

Castings for house work give trouble from warping, as 
they are generally light and long. When the thickness of 
metal in a column is not equal, the thin side will generally 
cool first, and draw the thicker side toward it, thereby mak- 
ing the thin side of the column concave and the thick side 
convex. And the thick side being the last to cool, will 
often draw it back, thereby leaving the casting, when cold, 
concave on the thick side. A variation of -^j" in thickness 
is often enough to make a column crooked. When care is 
not taken to have the thickness equal and the core well 



STRAIGHTENING CROOKED CASTINGS. 



283 



a< 


• ■ • • 




.; ;•• 




• ^» ," 






1 :: 


"•:•;.' 






« 




anchored, crooked columns may be looked for. Cores that 
are made in half-core boxes, and then pasted together, 
should always be calipered before setting the bottom chap- 
lets, to see if they 

are round. Should ^ 

the core be found to 
be flat or out of 
round, the difference 
should be divided \ 
between the top and 
bottom chaplets. 

Moulders will 
sometimes set a flat 
core on the bottom 
prints, allowing for 
no variation, and 
when the cope is set 
on there will be, per- 
haps, more thickness 
of iron on the cope 
than on the bottom 
side. If questioned 
about this by the 
foreman, they will 
answer that the core- 
maker should have 
made his core round 
instead of flat. This 
is all true enough ; J 
but as it is a well- 
known fact that very 
few cores are pasted 
together so as to be exactly round, like a core that is swept 
up with loam or green sand, the moulder should always 



*M I 



284 STRAIGHTEN-IKG CEOOKED CASTIN'GS. 

caliper them, and then the pattern, and set the chaplets 
accordingly. 

There are also many house-castings, such as lintels and 
ornamental work, that are troublesome from having flanges 
and ribs, for the purpose of strengthening them and saving 
iron in the main casting. The flanges or ribs are usually 
either thinner or thicker than the main casting. It can 
only be told how a flange or rib will draw a casting in the 
case of a special pattern ; that is, no general rule can be 
given. The same shaped flange or rib attached to different- 
proportioned castings will not make the castings all draw in 
the same direction. Although it is mainly flanges and ribs 
that are the cause of many castings bending into all kind of 
shapes, we must not lose sight of the f:-ct that the main 
casting is just as much responsible. Either (the flanges 
and ribs or the main casting) could generally be cast sepa- 
rately and come straight. In all cases the thick side of 
castings does not require cooling. Sometimes columns can 
be made thicker on the cope side, and this thickness be the 
means of preventing the casting from being crooked in the 
bottom, the iron is there the closest grained and soundest, 
while the upper surface is more porous and contains most 
all the dirt, which allows the heat to escape much faster, 
the cope covering of sand offering but little resistance to it. 
The cope surface of a casting generally cools the fastest, 
especially when the copes are shallow. Before endeavoring 
to cool a casting, we should consider the greater amount of 
heat lost by the iijpi^er portion than lost l)y the bottom part. 

About all that can be said as regards the cooling of ill- 
proportioned castings, to keep them straight, is : cool the 
thick jmrt andheep the thin part hot, so as to have the same 
temperature in each p^ortion. Keeping all parts of tlic same 
temperature, their contraction will be uniform. There are 
castings that it is almost impossible to cool so as to keep 



STRAIGHTENING CROOKED CASTINGS. 285 

straight, on account of their ill ^proportions ; and should 
we by good management do so, we run the risk of having 
them crack sooner or later, as there is sure to be a strain 
somewhere, because a thin body of iron will contract in 
cooling more than a thick body. 

With castings in which a strong artificial cooling treat- 
ment has to be resorted to, to make them come straight, it 
is best when possible to have the pattern made crooked to 
compensate for the warping when cooling. This is very 
often done in the case of castings that always warp one way. 
But there are castings in which this would be impossible, 
because they twist into all kind of shapes, one day being 
one way and the next day some other shape, and so on. 
About the best thing that can be done with such castings is 
to make them of iron, of the least possible contraction. If 
iron could be had that had no shrinkage qualities, we 
would not be troubled much with crooked castings. 

Weighting down the ends or the middle of long, heavy, 
or light castings, is very often done to keep them straight. 
Sometimes the weights are sufficient to hold the casting 
straight without having to resort to any cooling process, 
and again it is necessary to weight them down and cool 
them as well. It is sometimes better, when possible, to 
weight a casting down than to try to straighten it by cool- 
ing. I have seen long awning castings go so crooked that 
it was necessary to take them out of the mould, lay each 
end on some pig iron and weight down the middle so as to 
bend it down more than an inch below a straight line, the 
bending being done the reverse of the way that it naturally 
crooked or warped. This was done as soon as possible after 
the casting was poured, so as to bend it while red hot. 
When the castings had cooled and the weights were taken 
off they came up straight. 

Often moulders will weight down the ends of a casting. 



286 STRAIGHTEl^ING CROOKED CASTII^GS. 

and shovel the sand from the top in the middle in order to 
keep the ends of the casting from coming up. This is 
wrong, for by cooling the middle on the top side this part 
is contracted quicker than the under side, which will natur- 
ally cause the ends to come up if the weights are not heavy 
enough to hold them dov/n. If the moulder is trying to 
hold down the ends of his casting, it would look more as if 
he understood what he was doing to dig underneath the 
middle of the casting so as to cool it, which, by causing the 
castings to contract there, will help the weights instead of 
working against them. 

If the under side cannot be got at, it would be better to 
put on more weights, and instead of cooling the middle on 
top, leave it well covered over with sand, so as to keep it 
hot. It should always be remembered, that removing the 
sand from any part of a hot casting cools it ; and that cool- 
ing any portion of a hot casting causes it to contract the 
faster. Also that before one side can contract faster than 
another, there must be a crook or bend in the casting, this 
bend being made while some j^art of the casting is hotter 
than another. The part that cools first in equal-propor- 
tioned castings will generally keep the casting in the shape 
it was bent when hot. 

It is not always that a moulder will succeed in straighten- 
ing a casting before it is cold. He may, when he gets it 
out of the sand, see that it is crooked, and while there is 
yet a little heat in it, by dampening the rounding side or 
surface with cold water, straighten it. This treatment re- 
quires care, especially if the casting is so hot that you can- 
not bear your hands on it. The action of the water is 
sometimes visible as soon as it is applied, and if care is not 
taken, the casting will be bent the other way, in which 
case, if there is heat enough left, it may be wet on the other 
side to bring it back. 



STKAIGHTEKING CROOKED CASTINGS. 287 

After castings are entirely cold, and are then found to be 
crooked, they may often be straightened by ^^pening" with 
a hammer, or by heating the middle with a wood and 
charcoal fire, and weighting down the ends. 

The upper cut shows how this is generally done. The 
crooked casting is rested on two iron bearings, E, E, high 
enough to give a good chance to build a wood fire under- 
neath. There are then wooden or iron guide-blocks, P, P, 
set to allow the ends of the casting, when it is being straight- 
ened, to be bent down the proper distance, so that, after 
the weights are taken oS, the ends will spring up, leaving 
the casting straight. It will generally be necessary, if the 
middle is made red hot, to bend it down about twice as 
much as it is crooked ; that is, if it is f " crooked, it should 
be bent 14^", and after it is cold and the weights are taken 
off, it will be about straight. This is done by adjusting the 
blocks P, P, so that the weights will bend the ends down 
just as far as required. 

In straightening castings in this way there is no cooling 
or contraction involved ; the casting is simply bent, while 
red hot in the center, by the weights. 

The casting must be red hot, and be bent more than 
sufficient to straighten it, as explained. 

A wood fire is kept underneath, and a charcoal fire is 
made on top of the casting, so as to have it surrounded 
entirely by a strong fire. 

Often castings can be made straight by ^^ pening " the 
hollow side with a hammer, as shown. The hammering 
compresses and lengthens the part that is hammered, ex- 
panding the surface of the iron, Avhich lowers the ends. 

A solid iron block should always be used to rest the por- 
tion of the casting under the hammer, and the hammer 
should have a good, flat ^^pene." The hammering should 
be done gradually over the surface. Steady hammering on 



288 STRAIGHTENING CROOKED CASTINGS. 

one spot and then on another breaks the skin or surface of 
the iron, or perhaps worse, will break the casting in pieces. 

The lower cut shows how gates and runners sometimes 
draw castings crooked. This casting was a long, toothed 
rack, the teeth being small. The casting was gated as 
shown (sometimes such castings are run from one end, by- 
having the mould set on an incline), and when it was taken 
out of the sand it was bent sideways. This was caused by 
the gates and runner being lighter than the casting, and in 
cooling and contracting the quickest, they draw the casting 
crooked. 

To remedy this in the next casting, gates were made on 
both sides, as at X, X, instead of on one side only. This 
caused an equal pull on each side, thereby making a straight 
casting. The small gates, 2, 3, 4, and 5, at the ends, would 
generally be broken from the castings by their more rapid 
contraction. 

There is hardly a foundry that has not been at some time 
troubled by castings breaking or warping, and it is fre- 
quently troublesome to find the cause, and a remedy. 



CAST IROl^. 289 



CAST IROK 

Cast iron is obtained from ores smelted in blast furnaces. 
The quality and grade of the iron produced depends upon 
the nature of the ores and fluxes used, also whether it is 
hot or cold blast, and what class of fuel is used to smelt 
them. The same class of ores will produce different grades 
of iron by varying the charges of fuel and fluxes ; the fluxes 
are used to assist the melting of the iron, and to separate the 
earthy or non-metallic matter from the ores, which is run 
off in the form of a slag, similar to that which runs out of a 
cupola when large heats are run or dirty iron used. 

The slag from a blast furnace generally contains more or 
less iron, and a well-managed and good working furnace 
is one that produces tlie grade of iron intended, and extracts 
all the iron possible from the ore. 

Some ores contain more iron than others ; about the lowest 
percentage of iron ore used is sixteen per cent., and about the 
highest percentage of iron said to be produced from ore is 
seventy per cent. 

Silex, lime, and clay are more or less combined with iron 
ores; some ores contain so much that the ore will flux itself, 
and again one ore will be used to flux another. 

^^ Any substance ivlilch promotes the melting of another is 
called aflux.^'' — Osbori^. 

The jDercentage and class of fluxes used depends upon the 
composition of the ores. 

Carbon, silicon, sulphur, phosphorus, and manganese 
are bodies that exist in the ores as in the cast iron, but 
13 



290 CAST IRON. 

the same percentage contained in tiie ore does not exist in 
the grades of iron obtained from them. 

The manager of a blast furnace will sometimes cause the 
composition of ores to be entirely changed by his manipula- 
tion of charging and smelting them. For a manager to 
obtain the grade of iron wanted, a practical knowledge 
obtained from experience and from the chemical composition 
of the ores, fluxes, and fuels used is necessary. 

The fuels used to smelt ores are charcoal, anthracite coal, 
bituminous coal, and coke. Charcoal makes the best iron 
because it is freer from sulphur, and other impurities which 
always exist more or less in coal and coke ; the phosphorus 
in iron is often largely obtained from the limestone used to 
flux the ores. 

Silicon and the manganese in iron ore are obtained from 
the ores. A percentage of the carbon' in iron is obtained 
from the fuel used to smelt it with. The carbon in gray 
iron is mostly all in the form of a graj^^hite, and the iron may 
contain as much as three or four j^ercent. of it. A large 
percentage of graphite in gray iron will make it yery 
soft, unless made hard by the presence of some harden- 
ing substance, such as silicon, which is the most common 
case. 

White iron contains carbon in a different state from gray 
iron. In white iron it is called coinhined carhon, in which 
form it hardens the iron. The graphite carbon in gray iron 
can have a large percentage made combined carbon, as in 
white iron by casting it on a chill or suddenly cooling it. 
B}^ this action the carbon, which in melted iron is in the 
state of combination, does not liave time to separate in the 
form of graphite. 

Silicon, sulphur, phosphorus, and manganese are im- 
purities found in cast iron, which more or less destroy the 
strength of the iron by making it hard or brittle. Silicon 



CAST IROK. 291 

greatly increases the fluidity of iron, thereby making it 
good iron to run light or thin castings, but for castings re- 
quiring great strength, silicon is undesirable. While iron 
containing sulphur may be strong, phosphorus will always 
be an element of weakness. 

Cold blast iron is said to contain less sulphur and phos- 
phorus than hot bhist, but at the present day this is a dis- 
puted point. Charcoal is the only fuel now generally used 
with cold blast ; anthracite coal and coke being blown 
with hot blast, and also charcoal, for the purpose of saving 
fuel and obtaining a larger percentage of iron from the 
ores. 

White iron is sometimes produced by improper charging, 
bad fuel, or a furnace failing to work as it should. To 
obtain gray iron requires the most favorable conditions and 
management. Gray iron passes from the solid to a liquid 
state far more readily than white iron. White iron becomes 
soft and pasty before becoming liquid. White iron contains 
but little strength, a No. 1 gray iron made from anthracite 
or coke furnaces is generally a soft, open-grained iron, and 
used to make thin, light castings ; it has not much strength, 
but it possesses great softening qualities, which permits an 
advantageous use of it mixed with scrap or harder grades of 
iron. 

A No. 2 iron is harder, stronger, and closer grained than 
a No. 1 iron. 

No. 3 is still harder than No. 2, and j^ossesses less strength, 
while its color is gray inclining to white. 

Nos. 4 and 5 are mottled irons, which are made from a 
mixture of gray and wdiite irons. 

No. 6 is white iron, possessed with little strength, and very 
seldom used except to mix with softer grades of iron in a 
foundry. 

No. 1 charcoal iron will not generally make as soft a cast- 



292 CAST IRON. 

ing as a No. 1 anthracite or coke iron. A No. 1 charcoal 
iron should be a very strong iron. 

It is not always safe to rely upon the appearance of pig 
iron (when broken) as to its qualities, for when it is melted 
in the cupola its nature will often change, so as to return 
an entirely different grade of iron. The best way to tell the 
merits of pig iron is by melting it. To judge of the merits 
of iron when in a liquid or solid form, requires study and 
experience ; hard iron;, when running out of a cupola, causes 
numerous sparks to fly in all directions ; when in the ladle 
the surface presents an unbroken, close appearance, and if 
the surface is disturbed it acts sluggish and devoid of life. 

A No. 1 iron in running displays no sparks, and when in 
the ladle its surface presents a lively, broken appearance of 
fine-colored undulatory movements. No. 2 and No. 3 
present a similar appearance, only to a less degree as the 
iron becomes closer. 

A piece of iron when broken, if good and strong, should 
present a medium-sized grain, of a lustrous dark gray color, 
fracture sharp to the touch, and close, compact texture. 

A grain either very large or very small, a dull, earthy 
aspect and loose texture, indicates a poor grade of iron. 
The color of iron is generally lighter as the grain becomes 
closer. 

All kinds of iron become white when suddenly chilled, 
and iron poor in carbon becomes so most readily. 

Cast iron melts at from 2,000° up to 3,000°, and will pro- 
duce better iron when melted at a high temperature than 
at a low one. 



MIXING AIhD melting IRON. 293 



MIXma AND MELTIKG IRON. 

To be able to mix and melt irons tliat will answer for such 
castings as cylinder rolls, dies, pulleys, etc., a series of ma- 
nipulations are given that to many foundry managers will 
be far more instructive than an elaborate chemical analysis 
of iron. Twenty-five or thirty years ago pig iron was not 
so easily procured as at the present day ; much of the iron 
used was imported, and what few brands of iron were in the 
market were generally well known. At the present day, 
however, we find the home production so large that it would 
occupy pages to even mention the different kinds, and the 
importations are so small that we seldom hear of any. Most 
all American foundries now use different brands. Hence an 
attempt to give the names of the brands used would help the 
mixer or melter much les3 than the 'plan herein adopted. 
Different grades of iron have a higher or a lower temperature 
at which they will melt. A hard iron will generally melt 
faster than a soft iron. Pig iron requires a higher tempera- 
ture to melt it as fast as a piece of old scrap iron of the same 
size. Pig iron generally melts at the ends of the pig first, 
for the sand and scale on them hinders the body of the pig 
from melting ; and light iron will melt before heavy. When 
charging iron, the heaviest pieces should be put in during 
the first part of the heat, for cupolas under 30" inside 
diameter. Heavy pieces of iron should not be charged, as 
they are more or less liable to choke the cupola, in cupolas 
ranging from 30" upwards. Larger lumps of scrap iron 
that csLTinot be broken are very often melted ; I have charged 



294 MIXING AND MELTING IRON. 

pieces ranging from 100° up to 1,000°, but it is not economy 
to melt heavy pieces if they can be broken, for such large 
bodies require the use of more fuel to melt them. In 
charging iron it should be eyenly distributed oyer the fuel, 
and made leyel, so as to receiye the charge of fuel on 
the top of it. The iron should not be charged close on ; 
it is better to charge it open, thus giving the flame and 
heat a better chance to reach it. In charging pig iron, the 
top smooth face, having no sand on it, should be the side to 
be placed next to the surface of the fuel, since, by so doing, 
the heat will reach it more readily. Long })ieces of pig, also 
scrap iron, should be used as little as possible, especially 
in the smaller-sized cupolas, for they are apt to hang them 
up. In melting irons of different grades during the same 
heat, there is danger of getting them mixed, unless the great- 
est of care and judgment are used. Sometimes they will 
get mixed because of the method the melter has of charging, 
some men, when shoveling in coke or coal, will stand back 
seven or eight feet from the charging door, in order to avoid 
the heat. The fuel strikes the farthest side of the cupola, and 
lodges on the side neai*est to him, so that instead of the 
fuel being level, it is banked up against one side ; the iron 
is now thrown in, and it rolls to the lowest side ; thus 
the largest percentage of the fuel is on one side ; and of 
the iron on the opposite side. There are cupolas charged 
in this manner very often. The foreman will complain 
to his melter because the cupola melts so slowly, or because 
it is choked before it has melted half the iron it should 
do ; or when the castings come out, because they are hard, 
or not of the grade wanted ; for any uneven charging of 
fuel and iron will always cause trouble, and to many it may 
appear a very profound problem to solve, when, in reality, 
it is only the lack of judgment and a little common 
sense. 



MIXIl^G AKD MELTIi^G IRON. 295 

SHOT IROK, OR BURNT IROK 

is a class of iron that foundrymen dislike to have anything 
to do with, on account of its mixing in and contaminating 
other irons. Shot iron will sometimes cause hard spots in 
castings, it also causes them to crack, and very often five or six 
hundred would make a sixty hundred heat of soft iron so 
hard that half of the castings would be condemned. Shops 
that can use nothing but first-class iron in their castings 
generally have trouble to get rid of shot iron ; there are 
some shops that will not bother with it at all ; they will pick 
out all the iron they can from the cinder, and let the rest go ; 
and it has often been a question in my mind whether they 
were not as well off as those that paid help to screen the 
cinders, and used the shot iron at the expense of making 
bad castings. I have tried in many ways to use shot iron so 
as not to spoil good soft iron, and about the best plan is to 
make a separate heat of it, or melt it at the last of a heat, 
and then pour ii into pigs, which can then be broken and 
used to mix in with good pigs in future heats; but in any 
form it should be used with caution. Burnt iron, in many 
respects, is like shot iron, so far as making bad castings is 
concerned. Burnt iron will make more slag than shot iron, 
and cause a cupola to choke quicker. There are degrees in 
burnt iron, some are worse to deal with than others; but with 
shot irons it is all about alike. Burnt iron should only be 
used in small quantities at a time, unless a lot of sash 
weights, etc., are to be made, then a heat can be made of 
nothing but burnt iron, and the cupola run until your 
ladles and cupola are all choked, if one desires to do so. 

In melting ordinary mixtures of iron, such as that used 
for common castings, there is seldom trouble caused from 
the different kinds of scrap or pig not giving the quality 
wanted, when shot or burnt iron is left out, and the 
melter charges the iron and fuel as it should be done. 



296 IROJS^ MIXTUKES. 



mOJSr MIXTURES. 

Whei^ a foundry receives a pattern they receive instruc- 
tions as to the grade of iron required in the casting. One 
may desire a good soft iron, another a very strong iron, or a 
very hard iron, or perliaps desire it chilled. These four 
elements comprise the requirements for special mixture. 
"When a cheap iron is desired, the castings are generally 
made of what is called a common mix, and in such cases it 
may be even too commojs". 

Good common mixtures are generally made of one third 
No. 1 soft 2^ig, and two thirds common scrap. 

Castings that need to be soft, as pulleys and thin castings, 
are generally made of the openest No. 1 pig that can be 
obtained, and then mixed with half good machinery scrap 
iron : if all pig iron is used, as a rule, softer casting will be 
obtained. By mixing two brands of No. 1 pig, in fact, 
to obtain any grade of castings from pig, it is best to use at 
least two brands of pig, as it results in a better iron. In 
the Eastern and Middle States more pig iron and less scrap 
is used than in the Western States. A great many places 
use almost all j^ig iron in their mixtures, which plan is not 
good in many cases, for a fair percentage of good scrap 
mixed with pig iron will often make a cleaner and stronger 
casting. To obtain a very soft iron it is sometimes ad- 
visable to use nothing but pig, selecting from two brands 
the openest pig that can be found. Soft iron is not a strong 
iron ; it is a very hard matter to obtain a very soft casting 
and at the same time a strong one. One of the best irons 



IRON MIXTURES. 297 

manufactured which accomplishes this end is the Hanging 
Rock iron, manufactured along the Ohio Eiver; No. 1 Scotch 
pig is a good iron to use as a softener. When it is desirable 
to use up scrap or No. 2 and No. 3 pig, 100 pounds of No. 1 
Scotch and 400 pouuds of either will make a stronger mix- 
ture than if ecpial proportions of each are used. Nos. 1 
and 2 of Scotch pig are generally a very weak iron, and if 
used alone the castings would be porous and unclean when 
finished up. There is American Scotch pig as well as 
foreign. 

For castings requiring strength when all pig is used, it is 
best to mix a No. 1 of one kind with a No. 2 of another. 
There are three classes of pig iron named by furnace man- 
agers — the red short, the cold short, and the neutral iron. 
The red short is an iron that has no strength when red hot, 
the cold short is one that has no strength when cold, a neu- 
tral iron is made by mixing the red and cold short irons to- 
gether ; and, naturally, tbe neutral iron makes the best 
castings. When mixing irons of two or three distinct grades, 
to make a casting which is to stand great pressure or strain, 
or to have a spotless finish, it is a good plan to melt the 
mixture and 2)our it into some pig beds ; then, if the mixture 
gives the grade desired, remelt the pigs and pour the cast- 
ing. This is a good plan also for some special cylinder, 
roll, or die castings, where a mixture of distinct grades is 
used, sucli as No. 1 charcoal and No. 1 anthracite or coke, 
car-wheel scrap, and a percentage of white iron or steel. 
Whenever white iron or steel is to be mixed with soft iron, 
the process is troublesome, for they will not mix well to- 
gether; but by twice melting, the union is made more com- 
pact and the result cleaner. One thing that should not be 
lost sight of in remelting iron is, that every time iron is 
remelted it is made harder. 

When making chilled castings a strong iron should be 
13* 



298 IRON MIXTURES. 

used, as the chilling of any iron will weaken it ; the closer 
the grain of iron the deeper will the casting be chilled, 
hence a No. 1 open-grained iron can seldom be chilled. 
Charcoal irons are generally used in making chilled castings 
on account of their superior strength. For castings that are 
to be chilled very deep or made very hard, white iron, and 
sometimes steel, is melted in with the charcoal irons. White 
iron makes a casting weak and brittle, and whether steel 
makes a casting stronger is a disputed point, but to harden 
softer irons steel is effective. 

For heavy castings, designed to stand strains and friction, 
one third No. 1 charcoal and two thirds mottled would 
answer. Mottled iron is generally a strong and close-grained 
iron. In mixing hard grades of iron, requiring finishing, 
open-grained and close-grained iron should not be mixed to- 
gether, for it is apt to show an uneven grain in the finish- 
ing. The following receipts have been used for the castings 
noted : 

LOCOMOTIA^E CYLINDERS. 

2,600 pounds of car-wheel scrap, 
600 '' soft pig. 

These cylinders would be so hard that the edges 
and fins would often be chilled; the casting, when cleaned, 
weighed about 2,400 pounds. 

MARINE AND STATIONARY CYLINDERS. 

First — 

One half No. 1 charcoal, 

*' good machinery scrap. 
Second — 

One third car-wheel scrap, 

" good machinery scrap, 
" No. 1 soft pig. 



IRON MIXTURES. 299 

ROLLIN^G MILL ROLLS. 

Some places make their rolls out of car-wheel scrap only. 
For small rolls, however, if the rims of the car-wheels are 
not chilled over |", and the middle and hub appear toler- 
ably soft and not mottled, the iron would be the right grade. 
The wheels selected to make rolls over 14" in diameter 
should be the thickest chilled ones, and the rolls so made 
would have the edges and fins chilled. 

One half car-wheel scrap. 
One quarter No. 1 charcoal. 
No. 2 

This is also a mixture used for making rolls, and the car- 
wheels should be selected for the small and large rolls as 
above noted. 

Mixture used for making small chilled rolls, which were 
desired chilled 1^", otherwise they would be of no use : 

1,300 iDounds of old car-wheels, 
100 '' No. 1 charcoal, 
300 " steel rail butts. 

Mixture used for making kettles which had to stand a 
red-hot heat all the time, so that the iron had to be strong 
and close : 

1,300 pounds of No. 1 charcoal pig, 
800 " old car-wheel scrap, 
700 ^^ good machinery scrap. 

Mixture used to make castings chilled, which are moulded 
all together in sand, the castings being required to stand 
friction and no strain : 



300 IROI^ MIXTURES. 

200 jDOunds of white iron, 
200 ** plow points, 
100 " No. 2 charcoal, 
100 '* car- wheel scrap. 

PULLEY MIXTURES. 

Iron for making pulleys should have as little shrinkage 
about it as possible. It would be a hard matter to give the 
exact proportions of iron to be mixed for them, as the thick- 
ness of the rims and the quality of the iron is what such 
mixtures depend upon. For thin pulleys the iron cannot 
be mixed too soft, sometimes it is best to select the openest 
pigs from two brands of a No. 1, and again two thirds of 
No. 1 and one third good scrap work well. For rims over 
I" thick, often pulleys are easily turned up, if the mixture 
is of equal proportions of No. 1 and good scrap. 

SASII-WEIGHT MIXTURE. 

Two thirds scrap tin, 
One third stone plate scrap. 
This mixture, when melted, made white iron. 

The few mixtures given show how special grades can be 
made or changed. To mix the above iron for machinery 
castings, these mixtures, except the sash-weights, are gener- 
ally costly, and always demand an increase in the price of 
castings. 



ODD WAYS OF MELTING IRON. 301 



ODD WAYS OF MELTING IRON. 

There is probably as much reason for changes in the plan 
of melting iron as there is in moulding jobbing work. Melt- 
ers will sometimes get nervous at being ordered to charge 
up their cupola in as many different ways as there are days 
in the week. A foreman that understands his business very 
seldom lays out a system, or a table of charges, for his melter 
to follow day after day, in a regular jobbing shop. The fore- 
man may have various reasons for wanting his melter to 
make all these changes. To-day he may want the cupola to 
melt extra fast during the first of the heat, and slowly after 
some heavy casting is poured, in order to have melted iron to 
feed with. To-morrow, seeing that some moulder will not 
get ready in season, this order may be reversed. As 
he does not want to keep his men late when it can be 
avoided, he orders the cupola charged, so that the men hav- 
ing small work can be pouring off while the large casting is 
being got ready. This casting, that, perhaps, weighs five 
tons, may not be thick in any of its parts, so as to require 
much feeding, and the bottom can be dropped soon after it 
is poured. In this way the only moulders kept late are the 
ones that were going to keep the whole shop's crew behind, 
which, for a shop that pays overtime, would be expensive, 
and, in any case, is not pleasant for the men. 

On some days the shop floor may be covered with a class 
of work that is better for being poured with dull iron, and 
the next day the work may be such as to require very hot 
iron. Again, there will be heavy and light castings, requir- 



302 ODD WAYS OF MELTING IRON. 

ing entirely different grades of iron ; and to comjoHcate 
matters the foreman, if an observing man, will see that the 
brand of iron is not of the same grade as the last car load. 
All of the above causes, to which could be added quality of 
fuel, sometimes make a thoughtful foreman think of a string 
tied full of knots. 

I will try and show in this, two of the many plans that 
may be adopted to meet different conditions that may be 
new to some. One is for melting special grades of iron, and 
the other to retain the bed in a cupola after melting a heat 
for a break-down job, or for a piece of casting that is wanted 
in a hurry. 

I worked once in a rolling mill company's foundry, and 
sometimes when everything was about poured off, there could 
in the distance be seen some one of the managers running 
towards the foundry as if he meant business. Our ignor- 
ance of the cause of his haste would soon be enlightened by 
seeing a team, or some men bringing a pattern. This pattern 
would be given to some comjietent moulder, and two or three 
reliable moulders would be retained to help him. By this 
time all the moulds are poured off and the cupola man has 
received instruction not to drop the bottom, but to prepare 
it to melt iron again in the course of three or four hours. 
The way to do this is as follows : Leave the blast on until 
you are sure all the iron in the cupola is melted, and instead 
of dropping the bottom knock out the front breast, and with 
a bent hook pull out all the clinkering coke or coal and iron 
cinder that can be felt or seen. Then fill up the breast hole 
with loose sand, and every five or ten minutes take away the 
sand and pull out again whatever clinkers or iron cinders will 
have formed, repeating the operation for the first half hour or 
so, or until you are sure that all the droppings of iron and clink- 
ers are pulled out. After this, every half hour or so will be 
sufficiently often to clean the bottom out. The stopping up 



ODD WAYS OF MELTING IROK. 303 

of the breast every time tlie clinkers are cleaned out is done 
to prevent the fuel from burning away, and also to keep the 
clinkers and droppings of iron from being chilled with the 
air. 

After the cupola is well cleaned out, there should be some 
fuel shoveled in, so as to freshen up and keep the fire in good 
burning condition. When the moulders have their mould 
or moulds about ready, then make up the breast as usual, 
and shovel in the fuel for a bed, the same height as for a 
regular heat. After it gets to burning, charge up the iron 
wanted, put on the blast, and you will soon have your cu- 
pola melting iron again. The first two or three hundred of 
iron is generally dull, and sometimes will have to be poured 
into a pig bed. After this the iron will come hot enough 
for ordinary castings. 

The question of how large a heat a cupola run in this way 
"would melt could not be better answered than by the follow- 
ing : One morning early, two or three men were called upon 
to mould up a piece of machinery for a repair job. The melter 
and helpers were called to the shop to get the cupola ready 
as soon as possible. The casting, the weight of w^hicli was 
about 2,500 pounds, was poured about eleven o'clock in the 
morning. The iron was all blown down, the breast knocked 
out, and the cupola treated as above described, until the time 
for the regular afternoon heats, which were never less than 
12 tons. The blast was again put on, and after the first few 
hundred pounds the iron was as good and as hot as usual. 
The time that the cupola was held from one heat to another 
was about four hours. The size of this cupola was a five-foot 
shell. 

To prevent the mixing of different grades of iron, when 
melted at one heat, has been the cause of a deal of thought 
and many experiments with foundrymen. I know of a foun- 
dry owner who makes a practice of melting only one grade 



304 ODD WAYS OF MELTING IROK. 

of iron at a time. If he lias a roll to cast, he will only charge 
up the iron weighed off for it. The blast will then be put 
on and all the iron in the cupola melted and tapped out. 
The blast is then stopped and the bed renewed with coke. 
Another grade of iron is then charged up and all melted 
down. I remember one day he made three distinct blow- 
outs during the same heat. The first was about 7,000 
pounds for a roll ; the second, about 2,000 for soft work, and 
the third was common iron to finish oif a heat of about 8 
tons. The size of the cupola that this was done in was 
about a four foot six inch shell. This same gentleman has 
a reputation for turning out castings of the grade of iron 
wanted, and it is owing to no more nor less than the way he 
charges up his cupola, and in being particular in the mixing 
and selection of his iron. The objection to this style of 
melting is that there is a little more coke used, and it takes 
from half an hour to one hour longer to run a heat off. 

It seems almost an impossibility to run a straight heat, 
when there are two or three different grades of iron to melt, 
without having them mix more or less, and the less the 
weights of tlie different grades to be melted, the more will 
they be liable to mix. For example : Charge an ordinary 
cupola with a regular charge of a special grade of iron, with 
the usual charge of fuel on top, and so on, charging 
with distinct grades of iron. As the grades of iron melt, 
pour some castings, the weight of which should be nearly 
the same as the charge. On the following day melt the 
special grades of iron by themselyes, and pour some cast- 
ings, and then compare the runners and gates, and you will 
see that there is a difference. 

It is generally known that hard iron will melt sooner than 
soft iron, and most foundrymen, when making a casting of 
hard iron, have the hard iron charged first, to make sure of 
having the casting of good, sound iron and of the grade 



ODD WAYS OF MELTING IROJ^. 305 

wanted. If they have soft iron to run, it is generally charged 
on the top of the hard iron. This is a plan that I do not 
always approve of, as there are always more or less particles 
of any grades or charges of iron left remaining among the 
fuel and on the bottom and sides of a cupola, and which will 
affect two or three other charges. 

A plan that I find to work well, when hard and soft 
iron are wanted, is to melt the hard iron first ; then, in- 
stead of putting the soft iron directly on the top of the 
hard iron, I charge one or two cliargesof common iron. On 
top of these charges the soft iron will be charged. After, as 
I think, all the hard iron is down, then the common iron is 
tapped out until, by the number of ladles carried off, I think 
it is all melted. At this i^oint the soft castings are poured 
according to the degree of softness wanted. The softest 
casting wanted, if there have been three cliarges of soft iron 
charged, should be taken from what is thought to be the 
middle or second charge. 

In some cases where 1 have only a small amount of very 
soft iron wanted, I charge up the soft iron on the top of the 
bed, which should be burning well, and should not have in 
as much fuel by from 4" to 6" as for ordinary heats. This 
iron will be put in from one half hour to one hour before 
any of the other charges of iron are put in, and when all is 
ready to have the rest of the charges put in, make the first 
charge of fuel (that which is placed between the first and 
second charges of iron) a large one ; as much larger than 
usual as the bed was left low. By this means the large 
charge of fuel takes a longer time to get hot, and separates 
the charges of iron more readily. When the first charge of 
iron is melted, the second, or large charge of fuel, will come 
down and raise the bed up to the proper height to run the 
balance of the heat off. I have by this plan charged hard 
iron on the top of soft iron. 



306 ODD WAYS OF MELTING IROX. 

And when not taking out the soft iron too closely to the 
amount charged up, the castings have been as soft as if the 
hard iron had never been charged up. It is in having only 
small quantities of different grades of iron to melt that 
there is serious trouble with their mixing together. With 
large quantities there is more chance of having castings the 
grade wanted; but even then the melter must use judgment 
in seeing that the iron is charged as it should be, and the 
foreman should be watchful, so as to know that the iron is 
taken away from the cupola as the grades melt or come 
down. 



THE TUYEKES AKD Li:&^i:&^G OF A CUPOLA. 307 



THE TUYERES AND LINING OF A CUPOLA. 

The governors of a cupola are its tuyeres : it is through 
them that life and combustion is given to the fuel by rapidly 
supplying air. Without air there can be no fire, for the oxygen 
air contains, when combined with the carbon in the fuel and 
ignited, gives to us heat or flame, so that the faster we supply 
this oxygen to the fire, the greater the amount of heat we 
obtain. Chemists tell us that two atoms of oxygen combined 
with one atom of carbon cause a tliorough combustion of 
the fuel, and if more than two atoms of oxygen are su2:>plied 
to one of carbon, it causes a destruction of the fuel by 
makino- its life short. To obtain the heat for the hot and 
fast melting generally required, our forced blast of air is 
said to give us more than the two atoms of oxygen, and hence 
we are compelled to use more fuel than we otherwise should. 
There are manufacturers of patent cupolas who claim their 
process will largely prevent this extra consumption or waste 
of fuel owing to certain arrangement of the tuyeres, and 
among the most prominent are the ColUans and McKenzie 
cupolas. The best test of these patents is their practical 
working, which must be seen to be understood. The ColUans 
cupola tuyeres are apparently based upon a very scientific 
principle to accomplish the end desired: since, however, it is 
only intended to notice the various cupolas and tuyeres which 
may be used, no recommendation is made. There are every 
imaginable shaped tuyeres used — oblong, triangular, oval, 
square, flat, and round. For each style there can be found 
ready advocates ; but, after all, the plain round tuyere has 



308 THE TUYERES AXD LINIXG OF A CUPOLA. 

my preference as it can be easily replaced, and gives oppor- 
tunity to bar into a cupola, and also as it does not cool as 
much area as flat tuyeres, etc. 

The distance of a tuyere from the bottom or bed is deter- 
mined by the class of work to be done ; for instance, in 
foundries for making stove plates, the height of tuyere from 
the bed should be from 7" to 15"; while in machine or jobbing 
foundries they should be higher, say, from one to three feet, 
according to the amount of iron required to be melted at 
one tap. The advantage of low tuyeres is a saving of fuel. 

For melting large quantities of iron, it requires the same 
amount of fuel over a low tuyere as it does over a high 
tuyere. 

Another reason for having high tuyeres for use in machine 
or jobbing foundries is, that a large body of iron is required 
to be melted before tapping out the iron into a '^ crane 
ladle." The object is to have a large body of iron to retain 
the heat, as sometimes it takes two or three hours to melt 
enough iron to pour a heavy casting. This course also gives 
time to allow the scrap iron of all descriptions and grades, 
also heavy solid pieces of old castings, to melt and become 
thoroughly mixed with the new iron which has been added. 

A cupola with tuyeres high will melt more and run 
longer heats than it would if the tuyeres were low ; but 
there are times Avhen having both would be an advantage. To 
meet this want, there have been two sets of tuyeres applied to 
the cupola, and placed one above the other. These can be 
easily arranged, so that either set may be employed to ad- 
vantage, using the high tuyeres for heaA-y heats, and the low 
tuyeres for light heats. 

The openings of the tuyeres not in use are to be stopped 
with clay. Sometimes the spout and breast of a cupola can 
be so arranged as to raise or lower it, thus affording an 
opportunity to put in a high or low sand bottom, a plan 



THE TUYERES AJ^D LIl^IKG OF A CUPOLA. 309 

which not long ago was used by the author in a 50" cupola, 
and found to work satisfactorily. A very convenient form 
of alarm for indicating the highest limit to which the melted 
iron is allowed to rise in the cupola will be readily under- 
stood by the following description. Referring to the accom- 
panying engraving, it will be observed that the melted iron 
has reached the highest limit allow^able, and is running 
through the tuyere liole into a small cast-iron box, having 
an inclined wooden bottom. 

This bottom, shown at X, has three holes of one inch 
diameter, bored through within i", allowing sufficient ma- 
terial to 23revent the wind from escaping. 

The bottom is held up tightly in place by a piece of round 
iron and a wooden wedge, as shown. This device should be 
attached to the tuyere nearest the spout F, so as to be easily 
observed. It is of essential importance to have the tuyere, 
to which the alarm is to be attached, about one inch lower 
than the rest, in order that the alarm may be given in time 
to prevent the melted iron from running out of the higher 
tuyeres into the pipes G, D. When the melted metal rises 
to the height of the low tuyere, it will run into the alarm 
box, filling the holes and burning through the wooden bot- 
tom to the floor almost instantly. A ladle could be placed 
under tlie alarm to catch the melted iron, if desired, without 
doing any injury. Several extra wooden bottoms should be 
kept on hand to replace those burnt out. 

The tuyere valve, B, forms a very convenient air-tight 
opening, and furnishes the means to bar into the cupola, or 
inspect the same, as a piece of mica is fastened into the open- 
ing e, with putty. 

The application of the alarm described, to a cupola, effec- 
tually prevents the excitement which usually prevails in a 
foundry when the melted iron overflows, resulting in heavy 
losses of castings. 



310 THE TUYERES AXD LIN^II^G OF A CUPOLA. 

The workmen are frequently and sometimes badly burned 
by accidents of this kind ; and there are many cupolas in use 
having quantities of iron in the wind boxes and pipes, thus 
obstructing the passages. The pipes are frequently destroyed 
by the hot metal, while in others they have to be patched. 
The workmen have to rely upon their j udgment generally to 
determine the height of the iron in the cupola, and some- 
times are deceived. In some instances the tuyeres are so con- 
structed that an alarm could not be applied to them ; in such 
cases I would recommend the application of a blind tuyere 
one inch lower than the working tuyeres, and attach the 
alarm to it. This useful appliance is, I believe, original, 
and is hereby given to those who may wish to use it. 

The lining of a cupola should always be built solid and 
close. The fire-clay placed between the bricks is only to 
make an air-tight joint, and the less clay used the better. 
The clay should be mixed with water, and very thin, so that 
by dipping the bricks into it sufficient clay will adhere to 
them to form a tight Joint. Each brick should be ham- 
mered until all the superfluous clay is squeezed out from the 
joint. A cupola lined up in the manner described will last 
one third longer than when the bricks are laid in thick clay, 
keeping the bricks apart ; and as the clay has not the power 
to resist the intense heat, it soon crumbles away, leaving the 
joints exposed to the action of the fire. In mixing clay, some 
advocate the addition of one third sharp sand. A very good 
plan is to boil the clay and sand together in a pot, as they 
will become more thoroughly incorporated. There are three 
courses or thicknesses of bricks used in lining up a cupola. 
Some f oundrymen line up their cupolas with a four-inch wall, 
keeping the bricks back from half an inch to one inch from 
the shell of the cupola, filling the open space with clay, mak- 
ing a wall of about five inches tliick. When this course is 
adopted, the man in charge need not be surprised some day. 




Sand,'.' : *."••••. •. • •*.'.' 



AN Ai^ARM FOUNDRY CUPOi.^. 



312 THE TUYERES AKD LINING OF A CUPOLA. 

after the bricks have burned out a little and a heavy heat is 
raised, to see the cupola shell get red hot, and perhaps a hole 
burned in it. I claim that the safest and best way to line a 
large cupola is with an eight-inch wall, as witli that thickness 
of bricks no fears need be entertained in running oif heavy 
heats, and when the inside four-inch lining is burnt out, it 
may be replaced without disturbing the other four-inch lin- 
ing next to the shell. 

When it is impossible to follow the above directions, on 
account of the double lining making the inside diameter of the 
cupola too small, very satisfactory results may be obtained 
by placing the bricks on end, so as to make the back lining 
two inches, and a four-inch lining laid up in front, as shown 
by the engraving. Broken bricks may be used for tlie back 
lining. The dimensions of fire bricks here given are more 
theoretical than practical, for some will be 4.V' wide, while 
others may be 4f " or 5", and vary in thickness from 2^" to 3". 

The inside lining in this case can also be replaced without 
disturbing the 2" lining. The inside lining should not be 
allowed to run too long before replacing, because when it is 
allowed to go beyond a certain limit, pieces of the bricks will 
flake off, mixing with the melted iron, forming an excess of 
slag, causing a retarding of the melting process, and produc- 
ing dirty castings. The destruction of the cupola goes on 
more rapidly under the conditions named. 

A slag hole should be applied to cupolas in jobbing foun- 
dries, as it is very essential in keeping the cupola clean 
and forwarding the melting when using dirty or burned 
scrap iron, or bad fuel. Any of tlie foregoing substances 
would tend to make plenty of slag, particularly during a 
large heat. Even with a small heat there is more or less 
formed ; and there are many cupolas where the slagging is all 
done through the tapping hole, which is a very dirty process, 
besides burning up the ladles when there is much slag. The 



n 



THE TUYERES AKD LIKING OF A CUPOLA. 313 

proper place for a slag hole is behind the cupola, because it 
is out of the way. It should be located three or four inches 
below the tuyeres. When slag is forming, and it is desired 
to let it out, the cupola should not be tapped until the slag 
has reached the level of the slag hole ; the hole may then be 
opened and the slag allowed to run until the iron appears, 
when the hole should be stopped. 

The spout should then be tapped, and from 300 lbs. to 
800 lbs. of iron allowed to run out according to the size of 
the cupola. The iron should then be stopped, and in a few 
minutes the slag hole should again be opened, after which 
from one to five tons of iron may be melted without the ne- 
cessity of opening the slag hole again. 

During some heats it becomes necessary to slag out several 
times — depending upon circumstances. A slag hole should 
not be located directly beneath a tuyere, as the blast 
would drive the slag back, preventing it from coming out. 
I believe that if foundrymen who have been accustomed to 
slag out at the tapping hole would adopt the plan of a sepa- 
rate slag hole, they would be so pleased that they would 
never think of returning to their old methods. 

14 



314 PREPARING CUPOLAS. 



PREPARING CUPOLAS. 

The various odd shapes given to foundry cupolas are gen- 
erally the result of circumstances. 

There are traditions extant of men, who, in commencing 
business, could not afford a cupola possessing the proper 
qualities and improvements ; so barrels or tanks were lined 
with bricks and clay by some, while others, who were more 
enterprising, made a square cupola of open sand-plate cast- 
ings bolted together. These make-shifts will do for past 
generations and in localities where there is a lack of capital. 
But the business man who understands how to run a foundry 
economically, insists ujoon having a first-class cupola, if it 
is to be had. There are two prilicipal styles of cupolas, viz., 
the oblong and round. 

The former possesses the advantage of allowing whole pigs 
and long pieces of iron to be ^'^ charged up," without requiring 
them to be broken in small jiieces ; the latter style is, how- 
ever, more generally used. Cupolas can be used from 10" 
to 72", or even larger if desirable ; small-sized cupolas are 
generally made with swivels, for the purpose of dumjoing 
them when they have melted their small heat. The small 
cupolas are only practicable for melting small quantities of 
iron, as, for instance, casting some light job or testing new 
brands of iron. To run a foundry with the intention of 
making money, no one should start with a cupola less than 
20". The common sizes of cupolas range from 30" up to 48" 
(these measurements are inside diameters). The amount 
of iron a cupola will melt depends greatly upon the man- 



PREPARII^^G CUPOLAS. 315 

agement. A 20" cupola should melt two tons, a 30" five tous, 
aud a 48" fifteen tons. Improvements on tlie inside of cupolas 
have been attempted in various directions, but thus far the 
common straight cupola, as shown in the cut, has not been 
improved on. 

I have often thought that the simpler the construction of 
a cupola the better will be the results, and tlie longer I live 
the more I believe this to be true. Just take a good look at 
the inside of a choked cupola, and then think how long 
and how much work it would require to keep any portion of 
it in an octagonal, hexagonal, or any analogous shape, and I 
think you will conclude that such forms were not desirable. 
A plain, round, straight-lined cupola, made with the bottom 
larger than the top portion, is the best for cupolas under 
30". Above 30" there will not be any trouble from having 
the bottom and top of the same diameter ; and, to my mind, 
a cupola should not be smaller at the tuyere, unless more 
than 48" in diameter — inside measurement. 

In small cupolas there is generally difficulty in respect to 
choking, which occurs when the cold blast has not a suffi- 
cient quantity of fuel to make it hot before it reaches the 
center, and also from the liability of the pig and scrap 
iron becoming fast in its downward flight ; by making these 
small cupolas larger by 3" or 4" at the bottom than at the 
charging door, the iron and fuel become looser as they de- 
scend. Larger-sized cupolas, made the smallest at the tuyeres, 
which is the plan of the McKenzie, and is patented, gen- 
erally give good results, for there is some fuel saved, and 
the blast brought with more force into the center of the 
cupola or fuel. 

The height to make cupolas ranges from 7 to 14 feet, the 
height increasing as the diameter is enlarged. High cupolas 
confine or liold the heat, and make the iron hotter, and 
melt it faster when it gets down to the melting point than 



316 PREPAEING CUPOLAS. 

low cupolas. The number and size of tuyeres the cupola 
should have depends somewhat upon the shape and con- 
straction of the tuyeres. With a plain round tuyere 

A 20" cupola should have two 4" tuyeres 
A 30" " '' " three ^" tuyeres 

A 40" " " " five 5" tuyeres 

A 48" '' '' " six 54" tuyeres, 

all evenly divided around the cupola. 

The area of the main pipe which carries the blast from 
the fan or blower to the cupola should, for larger-sized 
cupolas, have a greater area than the tuyeres, to give more 
force to the blast as it passes into the cupola. For small 
cupolas it is best to have all the same area ; also all right- 
angled turns in blast pipes should be avoided, as they break 
the force of the blast. 

Good management in melting iron is only indicated to the 
observer by the amount or weight of iron or fuel used in 
charging up a cupola, and the time consumed in melting. 
This information is good as far as it goes. A man know- 
ing this much, if he had the cupola prepared, could charge 
it up and melt iron, and have a reasonable success so long 
as the grade of iron, fuel, and working conditions did not 
change. 

It is more difficult to prepare a cupola properly than is 
popularly thought. The first thing a cupola man generally 
does in the morning is to put away his ladles and shanks, etc., 
and if ho has any helpers they may assist him, or be gather- 
ing the scraps and gates. Some places will ^' jingle " their 
small gates so as to cause the cupola to melt faster and 
cleaner. After all the tools are put by, the melter will be 
getting the ladles ready, while the helpers are getting the 
cinders away from the cupola, and mixing the clay for him. 



PREPARING CUPOLAS. 



317 







CUPOLA WITH MELTED PORTION DAUBED UP. 



318 PREPARIKG CUPOLAS. 

• 

Next the melter will go inside the cupola and pick it out with 
a small, sharp pick, being careful not to break or disturb 
the face of the bricks, for if they can be left with the thin, 
glossy skin or cinder formed upon the surface of the brick 
by the use of the fluxes and from the heat, it will often 
stand the fire and blast better than some of the clays used. 
After the cupola is picked out it must be daubed, and in 
doing this many melters think the melting point, or that 
part of the inside that gets burned out, should be filled vly> 
so as to be level with the rest of the inside ; but this should 
never be done. 

In looking at the cut shown herewith, there is seen one 
side of the melting portion daubed up, so as to fill up all 
this burned or melting surface even with the upper and lower 
parts. This is one cause for cupolas getting choked before 
they have run half of the heat off that they would if daubed 
up as shown on the opposite side at Y. Too much clay 
daubed on the lining will only bag down, as shown at If, 
and make it too heavy to hang on the lining or bricks. When 
the blast is put on, the commotion of the fuel and iron 
against it will soon start and cause it to come away from the 
lining and mix in with the fuel and iron so as to cause a 
large amount of slag. It will also form a bridge over the 
tuyeres, thereby preventing the blast from getting into or 
among the fuel. When this daubing falls off, the iron and 
fuel will get in over the bridge, and cool and chill so as to 
soon bung up the cupola, and stop the melting. To properly 
daub a cupola there should not be more than one inch of 
clay on any part, and when the lining is burned out in 
spots there should be some pieces of fire-brick built in with 
the clay, to save having large lumps of wet clay to dry and 
to cause trouble when the blast goes on. The melter should 
be very careful in mixing his clay to have just the right 
quantity of open or sharp sand mixed in with it, as too little 



PREPARING CUPOLAS. 319 

causes the clay when drying to crack open, and too much 
destroys the body of the clay. 

The best clay for daubing is fire clay. When the melting 
point or surface is so badly burned out that from J to 1 inch 
thickness of clay will not keep the iron shell from getting 
red hot, that portion of the cupola should be relined at once. 

The lining of a cupola will last twice as long where good 
fire-clay is used in preference to the common clays so 
frequently used. It costs more to purchase fire-clay than 
the common red or blue clays ; but as to the question which 
is the cheapest in the end, it may be noted how very costly 
it is to reline a cupola every few months. When a melter 
in picking out the cupola sees that it is burnt out in 
some places more than in others, he may be sure that some- 
thing is wrong ; either the charges have not been put in 
evenly, or the cupola has not been daubed properly. These 
two things are sure to cause uneven melting. After the 
cupola is daubed, put up the bottom ; this is generally done 
by propping up a section or one half of the door, and then 
shoveling up the sand, after which the balance of the door 
or bottom is permanently propped up as shown. Very large 
cupolas sometimes have the drop-door in four sections, 
medium-sized cupolas in two, and in those under 30" the 
drop-door is made all in one piece and hung by two hinges. 
Drop-doors are sometimes made of wrought or boiler iron, 
so as to make them lighter ; cast-iron ones being too heavy 
to put up easily. 

The sand used to make the bottom with is picked up 
from the gangways, or from dirt piles ; sand for forming 
bottoms should not be in the least loamy, for it would be apt 
to bake hard, and not allow a bottom to drop, especially in 
small-sized cupolas. Many a man has been burned in en- 
deavoring to pry down baked bottoms. It is also bad to use 
rotten or very open sand, because the iron is apt to wash it 



320 



PREPARIIfG CUPOLAS. 



away. It is advisable, after the sand is rammed down and 
the shape of the bottom formed, to coat it with clay wash, 
for by so doing a firm crust will form on the surface. The 
sand should not be too wet, or rammed too hard, as either 
Avill cause trouble, just as the bottom of a green sand mould 
does from wet sand or hard ramming. The author has seen 
a cupola bottom blowing so that the sand was lifted enough 
to let the iron run out at the bottom. A bottom should be 
made sloping, as shown in cut; this is to make it certain that 
the iron will all run out. If a bottom has too much slope it 
will cause the iron to rush out with force, and hence make it 
difficult to stop it ; while if there is not enough slope the iron 
is apt to choke up at the breast or tapping hole when it first 
commences to melt. Putting in the front or breast in a 
cupola should always be done intelligently, or there will be a 
failure of some kind. The front of cupolas is made large 
enough to admit shoveling the sand through them to make 
the bottom with, if desirable. When the lining of a cupola is 
over 6" the brick had better be cut away from around the 
front, so as to form the tapping hole of a proper length ; a 
long tapping hole will always be troublesome if the iron 
chills in it, and also it makes an ugly-looking front, A 
tapping hole should not be over 3" long, and made with 
clay, so that the working of the tapping bar and washing 
of the iron will not wear it away. The front or breast can 
be rammed with a mixture of clay and new moulding sand, 
or let the whole front, including the tapping hole, be 
formed from a stiff clay. Some melters do not put in the 
front until the fire is started, using the fuel for a backing to 
ram against ; others will make it half up before putting in 
the fuel, and then, after the fire gets burning nicely, they 
will put in their draw plug and make up the balance. 
A good plan is, when the cupola is large enough, to have 
a board with a hole to admit the tapping draw plug held 



PREPARIiq^G CUPOLAS. 321 

up against the inside, while one rams or packs up the front 
until solid, after which, with a trowel, make the inside of 
the hole of a conical shape, as shown, and make the clay 
smooth and even with the brick- work ; also it is well to 
have some clay in place of sand to form the bottom for 
4" or 5" beyond the inside of the breast, so as to j^revent 
the tapping bar from making a hole in the bottom. For 
small cupolas sometimes a piece of a board set in against the 
hot fuel is used to form a backing to ram or pack the breast 
clay against. The spout of a cupola is made while the breast 
is being formed, and dried a little with charcoal, or some hot 
coals, before the cupola is charged. In preparing a cupola 
most every cupola man has some method of his own, for it 
is a branch of the moulder's trade that men are generally 
left to manage or pick up by themselves as best they may. 



322 FUEL Aiq^D CHARGING IROI^^. 



FUEL AND CHARGING IRON. 

To melt iron we must use fuel, and by the quality and class 
of fuel used the nature of the iron is more or less changed. 
Fuel that contains an unusual amount of sulphur will 
always make the iron hard, and also create a quantity of 
slag. A good method of testing fuel before using is to 
make a piece red hot, and let it drop into a pail of water ; 
then by 2:)ractice it is possible to tell by the smell if it eon- 
tains an unusual amount of sulphur. More trouble arises 
from using coke than coal, from the effects of the sulphur. 
Coal generally makes a purer and softer casting than coke. 
The percentage of fuel required to melt iron depends upon 
the height of tuyeres, pressure of blast, and the quality and 
grade of iron used, as well as on the construction of the 
cupola, and the quality of the fuel. With coal or coke that 
is hard and clear less fuel is required than if it is soft and 
flaky. It requires more fuel to melt heavy iron than to 
melt light, and all pig iron requires more fuel than heavy 
scrap on account of the sand on the pigs. Tlie stronger the 
blast the higher it is forced through the hot fuel before it 
becomes heated by its union with the fuel to its greatest 
temperature. When there is too much fuel for a bed we do 
not obtain the full benefit of the greatest point of tempera- 
ture, as the iron is raised up above it, and since it melts at 
a decreased temperature it will not melt so fast. The same 
is true when the bed or fuel is lower than this point, and it 
IS worse to have a low bed than a high one, for a low bed 
will cause dull iron. For the iron, when it is melted, is not 



PUEL AND CHARGIITG IRON^. 323 

obliged to drop through this greatest point of temperiiturc, 
as iron does when melted upon the high bed, and further, 
the bhist is colder in the low bed than in a high one. A 
workman, to do rapid or economical melting, should vary 
the height of his bed until he gets the iron hot enough and 
melting in the fastest time. He should also be careful in 
the management of the cupola, and particular in charging it. 
There are hardly two cupolas that will be found to have the 
same blast pressure. Attached to the last cupola is a water 
glass lube inserted in the wind box, with a cork on its end to 
prevent its breaking. A tube thus applied and filled with water 
will show in inches the pressure of the blast on the outside of 
the cupola ; but to determine the inside pressure is a hard 
mat'ter, for the inside diameter of the cupola and size of the 
tuyeres will alwajs cause the pressure to vary. It is not 
always true when the pressure is high on the outside that it 
is the same on the inside. There will generally be the most 
pressure shown toward the latter end of a heat, and this is 
caused by the tuyeres and fuel in the front of them being 
choked more as the melting increases. The pressure of blasts 
used will be found to vary from eight to twenty inches. It 
requires a stronger blast to melt iron with coal than with coke. 
A weak blast will cause slow melting, and too strong a blast 
is apt to harden the iron and make slag, since its power will 
cut the clay and lining. Coke will melt iron faster than coal, 
and a cupola should melt longer with coal than with coke. 

Coke and coal are often used together. In sections where 
coal is the more expensive of the two, some foundries make 
a practice of filling up to the bottom of the tuyeres with 
coke, and then making the balance of the bed all coal ; and 
between the charges of iron they will throw in from one 
fourth to onethird the amount of coal to that of coke, put- 
ting the coal in first, which is a good plan to adopt in coke 
sections when there is a very large heat required. Again, 



324 FUEL AN^D CHARGING IRON^. 

some will use all coke for the bed^ and use a little coal 
between the charges, and others will have the order changed, 
using some coal on the bed and none between the charges. 
The height of fuel required to form the bed is lower for 
coal than coke ; eighteen inches is about the average height 
for coke, and twelve inches for coal. Above the top of the 
tuyeres medium-sized fuel will give better results than large 
lumps of coal or coke. In melting, the small fuel makes a 
hotter and more compact fire. Imperfectly started fires 
have often caused many bad castings. Meltcrs are often 
seen putting on a weak blast to make their fire burn up, so 
that they can commence charging up their iron, and often- 
times melters cannot obtain dry kindling wood enough to 
properly start the fuel. But as a general thing the melter is 
to blame for the careless manner in which he goes about 
his work. Sometimes he will not take the pains to split up 
planks or timber as small as they should be ; again, he will 
not have enough shavings to properly start his wood, or he 
may have a lot of short pieces of wood or blocks, and he 
will pi"it them into his cupola in such a manner that a 
stranger would think he was trying to see how small a 
space he could pack them into ; or again, he will not have 
wood enough to get the fuel properly lighted, or the fuel 
will only be burning on one side. To properly start a fire a 
good melter always tries to have a well-dried supply of kin- 
dlings on hand, and not wait until he wants to use it, and 
then take the first thing he comes across, even if it is wet. 
Kindling wood is effective when split up in long strips, and 
placed endways on a slant against the side of the cupola so 
as to protect the daubing as well as to catch fire better ; and 
if small i^ieces are used, let them be laid in the middle as 
open as possible, and on top of this kindling do not place 
any more fuel than is necessary to kindle additional fuel 
after the wood is all burnt out. Too much fuel at first 



FUEL AKD chakgi:n^g irok. 325 

has put many fires out, or made them burn poorly. If a 
fire does not kindle at first, there is often dull iron all 
through the heat, in spite of all efforts to overcome it. The 
proper time to start a fire depends upon the class of fuel 
used. A hard coke or coal fire should be started sooner 
than a light or porous coke fire, for the hard fuel requires 
longer in order to get it started properly ; but if the same 
lime be given with softer fuel, much of its life would be 
burnt out before the blast was put on. A fire should be 
started soon enough to get a cupola well heated up before 
any iron is charged. About the average time of starting 
fires is about two hours before the iron is charged, and the 
iron is better to be charged about one hour before the blast 
goes on, as by so doing it will get heated and melt faster. 
Upon the bed of fuel in a cupola is where iron is melted, and 
the height of this bed should be kept even with the melting 
point until the latter end of the heat, when it can be allowed 
to become lowe/*. To keep up this bed there is fuel put 
between the charges of iron, and as they melt the fuel comes 
down on the sinking bed and raises it up to its proper point. 
By the amount of fuel charged between the charges of iron 
the character of the melting will be much regulated. To 
make even and regular melting throughout a heat the melter 
should know what percentage of fuel it requires to melt a 
hundred pounds of iron when charging, in order to replenish 
the consumj^tion of fuel on the bed. To know the proper 
percentage to use, the melter must rely on experience as 
practiced in his own cupola. 

The weight of iron to use in making charges generally 
depends upon the class of fuel used, and on the diameter of 
the cupola. With coal, charges need to be made larger than 
with coke. With fifty pounds of coke between five hundred 
pound charges of iron, in the size of the cupola shown, we 
haye enough fuel to cover the iron over and separate one 



326 FUEL AND CHARGIKG lEON. 

charge from another. But were the charges thus made 
with coal, the coal would not separate the charges, and 
the iron would appear as if it was one solid body, from 
the charging door down to the bed. So that in order 
to successfully melt iron with coal, we must have more 
iron in the charges, in order to have the right percent- 
age of coal to spread over all the iron, and to be strong 
enough to distinctly separate the charges of iron. For 
a small 30" cupola, as shown, when coke is used, the 
charges of iron may be five hundred pounds each ; but 
where coal is used the charges could be twelve hundred 
pounds of iron. 

As to which requires the largest jiercentage of coke or coal 
to melt iron, there seems to be a great difference in practice 
and in opinions, but in many cases the quantity of the fuel 
is the regulator. As a general thing with melters that weigh 
their fuel, and sometimes change from one fuel to another^ 
they use the same weight of coal as they do of coke. In melt- 
ing a heat of four tons in the cupola shown, there should be 
twelve hundred pounds of coke used to do it, or w^th coal 
the same weight of twelve hundred j)ounds would be used. 
Again, there are places where they will use a less percentage 
of coal than of coke, but as a general thing the percentage 
is a trifle larger of coal, since it takes a little more to make 
the bed the height required ; for heavy heats the percentage 
of fuel should be larger than for light ones. The reason 
for not showing a cupola of larger diameter is because 
the writer believes there is more skill required to successfully 
melt iron in small cupolas than in a large one. For a large 
cupola will stand some improper handling, and show no very 
bad results, but any improper management in a small cupola 
will be sure to cause more or less trouble. . 

The weights of the charges in a cu^^ola will permit much 
variation without bad results. Among half a dozen cupolas 



FUEL AIS^D CHAKGIl^G IROIT. 327 

like the one shown, it would not be strange to see them 
charged with different weights of charges. In melting 
iron, the beginner must observe the following rules. If 
all coke is used, be sure it is about 18" above the top of the 
tuyeres, and burning evenly throughout. Upon this bed put 
the first charge of iron, wdiich can be from five to fifteen 
hundred pounds ; then, if tliere are any heavy j^ieces of iron 
to be melted, put them in the second charge, since if heavy 
pieces of iron are placed in the first charge, or upon the bed, 
there is danger they will sink to the level of the tuyeres, and 
from this cause a cupola will soon get choked; the weight of 
the second and of remainder of the charges should run from 
five up to ten hundred ; and to be safe as to the amount of 
fuel, use fourteen pounds of coke to every hundred pounds 
of iron, if the charge is ten hundred of iron, and let one 
hundred and forty pounds of coke be used between them. 
If all coal be used, let its bed be about 12" above the tuyeres, 
and let the first charge range from fifteen to twenty-five 
hundred pounds, and the remainder of the charges range 
from ten hundred uj) to twenty hundred, the percentage of 
coal between the charges being about the same as that of 
coke. After two or three heats have run off, commence to use 
less fuel, and at the same time carefully change the weight of 
charges until the best results as regards economy of fuel 
and hot iron are obtained. If the cupola is a larger one 
than shown, have the fuel the same height above the tuyeres, 
and use the same percentage of fuel between the charges, and 
also grade the charges of iron heavier in proportion as the 
cupola increases in diameter. Some make the charges the 
same weight through the heat, while others will make every 
other charge lighter. For the last charge or two of iron the 
percentage of fuel can be decreased, that is, if the bed is in no 
danger of getting down too near the tuyeres before the last 
charges are melted. There can be more economy in fuel 



328 FUEL AKD CHARGING IROK. 

practiced by having heavy charges than by light ones ; but 
it is not every foundry that can work heavy charges, on ac- 
count of their having different grades of iron to melt during 
the same heat. 

In melting iron it is often a great benefit to use a flux so 
as to clean or sej^arate the impurities from the iron, and at 
the same time make it more fluid. A great many foundries 
use limestone or oyster shells as a flux, while others will use 
fluor-spar. There are also some patent fluxes in the market, 
for which great merit is claimed. Among them is one pa- 
tented hj EcUvard Kirh, of Ostuego, N. 1", the author of an 
instructive work on Founding of Metals. 

The patentees of fluxes claim that the use of oyster shells 
or limestone destroys rather than benefits the iron, and 
their fluxes do the iron good by making it stronger and 
softer, while the use of too much limestone or oyster shells 
will make the iron hard ; yet it answers the purpose intended 
in some cases, but oyster shells are better than limestone. 
In fluxing with either limestone or the oyster shells, they 
should seldom be used until the latter part of a heat, as they 
will then help to clean out the cupola and make it drop better. 
Limestone should be broken up to egg size, and thrown 
among the iron ; a riddleful being sufficient to flux a heat 
of three or four tons. A shovelful of oyster shells thrown 
in on the last charge of fuel is a good thing to help to clean 
out a cupola, as it will glaze the lining and make the cinders 
easier to put out. Fluor-spar can be used throughout a 
whole heat, as it has not the hardening qualities which the 
lime or shells possess, and is a good flux for general use. The 
melting point in a cupola is that portion of the lining which 
is burned out more than the rest, and also that point at which 
from the highest temperature there is the most melting done. 
The melting point or portion of a cupola ranges from 6 
inches to 2 to 3 feet above the tuyeres, and the iron is some- 



FUEL AND CHAEGING IRON. 329 

times melted in the lowest portion, as well as at tlie middle 
or highest point. As tlie height at which iron may melt is 
often sufficient to contain two or three small charges of iron 
and fuel, it is not a hard matter to see the cause of different 
grades of iron getting mixed. 

There will be more damage done at this point by blowing, 
or having the blast on, when the iron is all melted, than a 
dozen heats would do if the bottom is dropped, and having, 
according to the size of the cupola, from two up to ten hun- 
dred pounds of iron in the cupola. 

Wherever the blast goes in a cupola, it cools off the fuel, 
and the melting iron, dropping down from above, falls upon 
this lifeless fuel and is soon chilled by the direct force of the 
cold blast. This state of affairs, from the beginning to the 
end, keeps all the time getting worse in the large cupola as 
well as in the small one. In the large cupola, however, there 
is more chance of the blast losing its force and coldness be- 
fore it reaches the center, so that the fuel is given a better 
chance for thorough combustion. This permits of running 
a large cupola longer than a small one can be run. 

As soon as a cuj^ola begins to get black and cold at the 
tuyeres, we say it is choking. This is true ; and not only is 
the entrance being choked, but in the course of time the 
whole surface parallel with the tuyeres will be in the same 
condition, and as it increases the slower will be the melting, 
until no melting can be done. We then drop the bottom 
and have a good time trying to get a hole through the choked 
cupola. 

There are other things besides blast that help to choke a 
cupola, such as improper charging, dirty iron and fuel, etc. ; 
but, allowing that everything is done right, the cold blast 
will of itself accomplish it in the course of time. 

Whenever a tuyere is getting dark or choked, it should 
be opened, the cold black fuel and chilled iron be driven 



330 FUEL AN-D CHARGING IROK. 

with a bar towards the center of the hot fuel ; this will 
reheat the cold fuel and iron. It is occasionally a good plan to 
stop one of the tuyeres at a time with clay, and this will pre- 
vent the cold blast from getting in at this point, and allow the 
fuel to become rekindled after a few minutes ; then the tuyere 
is reopened, and another one stopped up, and going thus all 
around to every tuyere. For very large heats this operation 
might require to be repeated several times. In charging a 
cupola it should be kept full of iron until it is all in, and at 
the latter end, should there be any serious signs of its be- 
coming choked, it is the best plan to drop the bottom if 
possible. In order to have cupolas work well, cleanness in 
their management is of the utmost importance. The fuel 
should be free from all dust or dirt, and the iron have as 
little sand on it as possible. To look on a cupola staging is 
proof of the working of a cupola ; if everything appears in a 
dirty and disorderly state, it is in most cases safe to conclude 
that the melting is not done in a scientific manner. What- 
ever knowledge there is on the subject of melting iron has 
for the most part been obtained from individual investigation 
and practice ; and that man is the best melter who has studied 
the cause and effect, and reached a careful and well-founded 
conclusion in everything that has to be done from the time hfe 
begins to pick out his cupola until he drops the bottom. 



TAPPING OUT AND STOPPING UP CUPOLAS. 331 



TAPPING OUT AND STOPPING UP CUPOLAS. 

There is nothing that will at times cause more excitement 
in a foundry than the tapping out and stopping up of the 
cupola, and sometimes the situation is more serious than 
comical. The comical part is to see the melter, when the 
cupola is nearly or quite full of iron, tapping out into two 
or three small ladles, and when he goes to stop up, the clay 
falls off the bod-stick or gets washed away. The iron flows 
over the ladle, and a spark finds lodging down the man's 
back that is holding it, and he lets go the ladle to dispossess 
the hot lodger. The foreman, who is standing by a large 
casting being poured, yells out for the cupola to be stopped 
up ; the melter gets excited, runs the bod-stick without any 
clay on it into the running iron ; the sparks fly and the iron 
runs around his feet. He thinks of his home or family, and 
gets out of it as soon as he can. The foreman, thinking the 
situation is getting serious, runs from the riser he is watch- 
ing to go to the cupola, and when half way there he hears 
yells for water and sand, and, looking back, he sees the cope 
strained and iron running out ; at which point, if lie is a 
man that swears, he will exhaust the whole vocabulary in a 
very short time. His orders to stop the blast ; get water ; 
go to the fire alarm— are no sooner issued to some trembling 
being than he hears the moulder cry out for more iron, and 
looks towards the cupola, at which moment a sight of his 
face when he sees the cupola empty and standing in a pool 
of boiling iron, would never be forgotten. 

Such occurrences as these are frequent. I have seen 



332 TAPPIN^G OUT AKD STOPPING UP CUPOLAS. 

men burned, castings lost, and the shop in great danger of 
being burned through excitement around a cupola. Some- 
times it will be caused by the iron not being carried away 
fast enough, but in most cases it is the melter's fault. Go 
into some foundries and you will see the melter running his 
tapping bar into the tapping hole, as shown (in cut) at D. 
A stranger seeing him would think that he was trying to 
knock or push in the front breast. 

The position of the tapping bar as shown at X is, I think, 
a more scientific one, for instead of trying to ram the clay 
into the cupola, the bar should be held so as to dig it out, 
or tear it away at the outside edges of the hole, so that the 
pressure of the melted iron will push out the center. In 
tapping out this way you are always diggmg out the old 
stopping, and keeping a clean hole, and doing it with less 
labor, sledge hammering, and burning away the tapping 
bars, than in any other way I know of. 

I have seen melters have their tapping holes, before a 
heat was through, choked 4" or 5", and every time they 
tapped out they would have a man or two striking or 
knocking the bar into the breast with heavy sledge hammers, 
and when in it would take, four or five men to pull it out. 

Of course, there is sometimes iron and scrap used that 
will make a deal of slag, and it is hard Work to keep a breast 
or tapping hole clean, and melters are often exhausted in 
trying to do so. If they would only once adopt the plan 
here described, they would be astonished at the ease with 
which they could do their tapping. 

In tapping out a cupola for the first ladle, there is often 
trouble on account of the iron not melting as fast as it ought 
to, or as fast as it will after a few minutes. The iron, 
especially if hard, chills in the hole, and when tapping out I 
have often seen the whole breast knocked in to get the iron 
out. To remedy this, take a one inch round core, 4" or 5" 



TAPPING OUT AKD STOPPING UP CUPOLAS. 



333 




334 TAPPII^G OUT AND STOPPIN^G UP CUPOLAS. 

long, made with plenty of sea-coal or blacking, and when 
the iron is melting or at a fair stream, take the core and 
push it into the hole, stop over it, and when you take out 
for the first ladle you will have no trouble. 

There is another thing a great many melters have a habit 
of doing when stopping up a cupola. That is, they will 
push the stopping against the running stream to get the hole 
stopped up, which always causes a splatter, and sometimes 
washes the stopping off the stick ; whereas, if they would 
hold the stopping above the stream, and when near the hole 
push it down on a slant, they would not be so liable to burn 
any one, let the ladles flow over, or, worse yet, let all the 
iron run out on the floor, which often results in large loss. 

The mixtures of stopping have often a deal to do with 
accidents and trouble. About the best stopping for ordinary 
purposes is new moulding sand dampened with clay wash. 
This will not make the iron fly, and will tap out easy. If 
clay is used, it is a good thing to mix in some horse manure 
or sea-coal. This will keep the clay from baking so hard, 
and make it tap easy. 

Instead of having the bod-sticks all wood, the cut B shows 
an iron nipple made to fit on the end of a wooden stick. 
This w^ill save sticks, and should the stopping fall or wash 
off the iron it will not fly so much. At H is shown a 
gouge-shaped end of a steel tapping bar, which is very 
handy. 

The stand shown is a rigging that I made one day in open 
sand after the blast went on. The, top plate was cast first, 
and four half inch round rods cast in it, and Avhen set 
enough turned upside down and the rods cast into the bot- 
tom j^late. In the top there is a pocket, cast for holding 
the wrought iron arms A, A, which were made of \" iron, 
with a shoulder to keep them from dropping down. When 
not in use, they could be reversed or taken out of the way. 



TAPPING OUT AND STOPPING UP CUPOLAS. 335 

On the top, P, is a box for holding the stopping, and under- 
neath is kei^t a pail of water for dipping the bars into. 
The arms, A, A, form a rest for holding the tapping bars and 
stopping sticks. The stand complete does not weigh over 
seventy-five pounds, and I find it handier than using barrels, 
boxes, or things commonly used for such purposes. 



k 



336 AIR FURNACES. 



AIR FURNACES. 

To many foundrymen the air furnace is a stranger. 
There are very few shops that have them. They are used 
for melting heavy bodies of scrap iron, and for melting iron 
for heavy castings. The difference between melting iron in 
air furnaces and cupola is, that in the cupola the iron is 
melted by being mixed with or on top of the fuel. To 
have sufficient draft to cause a high temperature the air is 
forced into the fuel by the aid of fans or blowers, but with 
melting iron in air furnaces the fuel is entirely distinct and 
away from the iron ; and to get a sufficient supply of air to 
combine with the fuel a very high chimney is used, the fire 
being at one end and the chimney at the other. The iron is 
melted by having the flame and heat drawn over it. The 
fuel that will produce the most flame is the best, and there 
are different styles of furnaces in use. Some have the iron 
piled up at the end nearest to the fire, and the iron as it melts 
runs down an inclined bed into a well from which it is 
tapped into ladles. Another style is to have the iron melted 
at the end furthest from the fire, and as it melts it runs 
into a basin midway between the iron and the fire. The 
author worked in a shop that melted up old brass in a small 
furnace after this manner. Although furnaces differ in 
construction they all do their melting by having the flame 
and heat drawn in among the iron. The style of furnace 
section shown in the cut is similar to that in general use. 
A furnace of the dimensions given should be capable of 
melting from twelve to fifteen tons of iron. The charging 



AIR FURNACES. 337 

door, chimney, and firing places are very seldom situated 
alike, since the laying out of the shop and surroundings will 
cause changes. Sometimes a furnace can be easier charged 
if the door is at the end instead of the side, as shown, and 
for facility for firing it is sometimes better to have the door 
on tlie end. The firing door is sometimes on the end, and 
the charging door on the side, and again this order will be 
reversed. When the charging door is on the eud, the chimney 
is then on the side, and there is more economy in fuel to have 
the chimney on the end, as more space can be used to hold 
iron. Chimneys should have about the same area inside as 
the grate surface contains, and should be high enough to give 
a strong draught. Some furnaces will require a higher 
chimney than others, on account of the shop being located 
in some valley, or alongside of some hill or bank. Charging 
doors should be made so that they can swing to and from 
the furnace, and be as large as possible. The author has 
seen a furnace that used for a door one side of the furnace, 
which opened for over half of its bed's length, and after the 
furnace was charged the opening was all tightly built up 
with fire-brick. A very important feature in constructing 
furnaces is to have a good solid foundation under them. On 
one occasion when the melter went to tap out he was sur- 
prised at finding there was no iron in the furnace. It had 
found a weak spot, and suddenly it leaked out. . It proved 
on inquiry that this same thing had happened once before. 
It was stated to the author that there must be over thirty 
tons of iron buried below the furnace, all caused by its having 
a poor foundation. It depends upon the nature of the earth 
how deep down the foundation should go. The stone or 
brick foundation is built up within about one. foot of the 
top bed, so as to allow a good bed of sand to be made to 
form the bottom with, as shown. Some will lay in the mid- 
dle of the stone or brick foundation a coke or cinder bed, to 
15 



338 



AIR FURKACES. 



help take the gases and steam off from the bottom sand. In 
building a furnace the best of fire-brick should be used for 
forming the inside with, and furnaces should be made with 
at least a twelve-inch wall ; while the inside eight inches 
must be fire-brick, the outside four inches could be built 
up with common red bricks, and the top of the furnaces 
should be built in the form of an arch, and the whole fur- 
nace should be well bound with cast-iron plates and binders 
bolted together. Care should also be taken that no opening 
or crack exists in any form, since if any cold air gets into a 
furnace while it is in heat it will be apt to make trouble. 

When preparing a furnace any parts that may be burnt 
out are daubed with fire-clay. There is a melting point in a 
furnace as in a cupola, but in the furnace it is that point 
which is on a level with the iron when melted. It does not 
burn out so much as cupolas do, but nevertheless it requires 
as careful daubing as a cupola does. In putting a bed or 
bottom in a furnace, it can be raised or lowered according to 
the amount of iron required to be melted, varying from two 
to five tons more than its average. The lowest point of the bed 
is at the tapping hole, and the highest point is at the chim- 
ney entrance, ranging from 6" up to 12" higher than at the 
tapping hole. The sand used for making the bed is similar 
to that used for cupola bottoms, but if anything it should be 
more open. At the highest portion of the bed, where it runs 
in under the chimney, the sand should be a little closer or 
loamy, for when the sand is of a sharp nature the current of 
the draft is sometimes strong enough to wash it with it. 
In mixing this sand care must be taken not to have it any 
damper than sand used to mould with, and in forming and 
ramming the bed it must not be rammed too hard. After a 
bed is evenly formed and given the right slope, inch boards 
are then laid over the top of the sand bed so as to protect 
it from being cut up with the iron. When the furnace is 



AIR FURNACES. 



339 




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Fti 


it 








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00 




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r 1 


li J 






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^^^mmiim^& 



340 AIR FURNACES. 

being charged up, unless dirty iron is used or a furnace does 
not work well, a bottom will often stand for two or three 
heats. 

Making the tapping hole and breast must often be done in 
a reliable manner, and the size to make the tapping hole 
depends upon the class of work to be poured. If the iron 
is to be tapped out into crane ladles, the hole should not be 
any larger than 2" in diameter, but if the iron is to be tajDped 
out in a large basin that will hold all the iron there is in the 
furnace, then the tapping hole should be about three inches 
in diameter. A plan for stopping up the hole with sharp 
sand, so that it will tap out without any danger of bursting 
in the breast, is shown in the article entitled '' Eeservoirs and 
Ladles for Pouring Heavy Castings." When charging a fur- 
nace, the iron should be kept back a foot or two from the 
tapping hole, for when it is close to it there is apt to be seri- 
ous trouble, since the first iron that melts runs to this j^oint 
because it is the lowest ; and if there is iron there the metal 
is apt to become chilled. 

Light scrap, pig iron, or any iron that melts easily should 
be the bottom or first charged iron, and heavy rolls or larger 
lumps of scrap should be the uppermost or top iron, as the 
upper iron gets the most heat, and thus we have the iron 
that is the easiest to melt on the bottom, and the hardest on 
the top. The light and heavy iron will melt ^proportionately, 
which is one of the main things to accomplish in melting 
iron in a furnace ; for if when the iron is most all down, 
there are found one or two pieces that are not down, more 
fires will have to be made in order to get them in a fluid or 
melted state, and these extra fires are apt to harden the iron, 
or burn the life out of it. Iron should also be charged as open 
as possible, so that the flame and heat can get at the greatest 
amount of surface. 

What is here meant by the iron being down is that when 



AIR FUENACES. 341 

looking into a furnace by removing the loose bricks from tbe 
puddling holes, we show that there are no lumps of iron to be 
seen. Connected with a furnace there are the tools A, B, 
C, D shown. Whenever there appears to be any lumps of 
iron that are not melting as fast as they should do, in order 
to be down with the rest, the melter will take the poking- 
doAvn bar D (of which there should be two sizes), and break 
the half -molten lump into as many small pieces as possible, 
and then w'ith the puddling and pulling-down bar C he will 
move the lumps into the deeper and lower metal, and there 
work it round for a while. This work should be done 
quickly, as the leaving open of the puddling holes allows 
cold air to get into the furnace. When the iron is all 
melted and about hot enough, which is ascertained by dip- 
ping some out of the furnace with a small hand ladle, the 
melter then takes a long stick of wood, and, putting it 
through the different puddling holes in turn, he mixes or 
polls up the iron from five to ten minutes, after which, if 
the iron is hot enough and everything ready, the furnace 
can be tapped out. 

For fuel, bituminous coal is the best, as it makes much 
flame. Anthracite coal or coke may be used, but not with 
as good results as with the soft coal. With anthracite or 
coke there would have to be some blast used. In starting a 
fire, try to have a little good, clear coal upon the grates 
for the first two or three fires, as it will help to keep the 
clinkers from forming on the grates, after which a poorer 
grade of coal might be used. In firing up there should be 
som3 system, so as to keep up an even fire. About every 
fifteen minutes the fire could be supplied with fuel, and about 
every five minutes before firing take the bar B, and by running 
it in between the grate bars loosen up the coal. ^ is a bar for 
leveling the coal over the fire grates and raking up the same. 
The grate bars are all made single, sometimes being wrought 



343 AIR FURNACES. 

iron as well as cast. As a general thing, if the furnace has not 
worked well, or not been managed rightly so as to have the 
iron on the chill side when it is all melted, it is a hard matter 
then to make it hot ; and to have hot iron it must be melted 
hot as it comes down. Trying to make dull iron hot, after it is 
melted, is nearly like trying to make cold water boil by hav- 
ing the heat pass over the top of it. Air furnaces are good for 
producing good, strong iron when properly managed, but 
there are very few cupola melters that would be able to suc- 
cessfully run an air furnace. There have been some very bad 
blunders made in handling furnaces ; often they have had to 
be torn almost to pieces in order to get solid frozen masses of 
iron out, which came from improper management during 
the melting. To be a good air furnace melter a man must 
have brains and practice ; and unless a firm has large, heavy 
iron that they wish to make a business of melting, it is better 
to erect one or two large cupolas, for they will not only melt 
iron with a much less percentage of fuel, but also avoid 
risks which have often to be taken in melting iron in air 
furnaces. 



li 



BLACKING MIXTURES. 343 



BLACKING MIXTURES. 

It is of great value to a moulder to have a mixture of 
blacking that will peel and make a smooth skin of a dark 
blue color on a casting, and the failure to get it is not 
always because of improper blacking, but due to the method 
of mixing. Clay wash, molasses water, and sour beer are 
liquids that are generally used to mix up blacking, and 
their proportions can always be regulated so as to control, 
in a great measure, the quality of the mixture. In mixing 
blacking for thin castings the clay wash or molasses water 
should not be so strong as in the case of castings over one 
inch in thickness. Too much clay in any form in blacking 
is a bad thing, as it closes up the pores of the blacking, and 
is very liable to scab. Molasses water is valuable to mix 
blacking with, but care must be used as to the quantity, as 
too much molasses will cause it to flake and crack when the 
heat of the metal reaches it, and when the casting comes 
out, if it is a heavy body, it is apt to look veined and streaked, 
as a heavy green sand casting appears when the facing sand 
has been too strong. A half pint of black molasses is as much 
as should be used to a common-sized water pail of mixed 
blacking ; anything in excess of this amount is apt to cause 
trouble of some kind. Sour beer is also of use in mixing 
blacking, and will never cause any trouble unless too much 
clay is mixed with it. Medium-sized rolls and spindles peel 
better by using blacking mixed with all pure water than if 
clay was mixed heavy with the water. It is, however, neces- 
sary to have some clay in the blacking to peel properly heavy 



344 BLACKING MIXTUEES. 

castings, but before mixing any we should closely examine 
the dry blacking to see how much it contains, as there is 
generally more or less mixed in with blackings when origin- 
ally made. Some blacking contains so much clay that it does 
not require any clay wash added in mixing it for use. The 
finer blacking is ground, the better mixture it will make, 
and good blacking when mixed will not settle down to the 
bottom of the pail, but will grow thicker in time. If the 
blacking is too light it will float on the top while mixing it, 
and such a blacking should be seldom used ; on the other 
hand, a blacking that is so heavy as to sink to the bottom 
when mixed, generally contains much dirt or clay, and 
should also be rejected. If you wish to make a nice, clean, 
skin-colored casting, below are a few recipes for mixtures 
which have been proved satisfactory : 

1 of Lehigh blacking, 

I of charcoal blacking, 

I of German or American lead. 

Wet with beer or molasses water, slightly colored with fire- 
clay. This made a good mixture for cylinders and engine 
castings not over 3" thick. 

^ jDail of heavy prepared blacking, 
J pail of lighter prepared blacking, 
2 handfuls of flour, 
1 handful of salt. 

Wet with beer colored with fire-clay. 

Molasses was also used, but beer worked the best in this 
mixture. The salt was put in to harden it, and make the 
blacking dry rapidly, and the flour to give it a body. The 
salt part of this mixture was not altogether satisfactory, as 



BLACKING MIXTURES. ' 345 

it somewhat prevented a fine finish, otherwise the mixture 
was entirely satisfactory : 

i of heavy prepared blacking, 
J of light prepared blacking, 
^ pint of good clear oil. 

Wet with beer colored with common clay. The oil was 
put in to harden the blacking, and also to cause a smooth 
and easy finish, and this mixture made a nice-colored skin 
on locomotive cylinders. 

To mix a blacking that will peel a heavy solid casting, 
such as anvil blocks, rolls, or heavy cannons, it is a good 
plan to take either a pure Lehigh or a coke blacking and 
mix it with one third of phimbago, or, as commonly called, 
black lead, and wet the mixture with black molasses water 
colored with fire-clay ; then, after the face of the mould has 
been roughly sleeked over once with the tools, take some 
plumbago and wet it with molasses water. 

Make the mixture thin, and go over the mould with the 
plumbago blacking by using a camel's-hair brush. Next dust 
from a bag or spread on by the hand a light dust of dry plum- 
bago over the mould, and after this finish up the mould. 
By this mixture and plan heavy rolls and anvil block castings 
will drop the loam or dry sand without touching them, and 
the skin and color will be beautiful and perfect if properly 
done. All blacking contains more or less carbon, and the 
larger the percentage the more heat it will stand. 

Any substance put on the face of a mould which will 
prevent the hot liquid iron from burning or eating into the 
sand and not scab, will help to make a smooth skin or sur- 
face on a casting. 

Plumbago blacking contains more carbon than any other 
in use, and it is said the highest temperature will not melt, 
soften, or change its condition ; therefore when used on the 
15* 



346 BLACKING MIXTURES. 

surface of a mould these results are obtained. All blacking 
is imj^roved by being mixed a day or two before required, 
and in mixing blacking it should be screened from one pail 
into another several times, that the different parts may be 
thoroughly mixed and clean. 



f 



V 



LOAM MIXTURES. 347 



LOAM MIXTURES. 

There are certain sands which can be obtained in almost 
any section of the country, and from which, if used accord- 
ing to their clayey qualities or sharpness, mixtures of loam 
can be made. There are two classes of sand which gener- 
ally combine in order to make a loam ; one is of a close, 
clayey nature, and the other a sharp or coarse open-grained 
sand. The clayey sand gives a body to the loam, while the 
sharp sand makes the loam open and porous, so that the 
iron will kindly lay against its surface. 

This subject is more fully treated in the chapter on ''The 
Surface of Loam Moulds." The following are a few loam 
mixtures which have worked well, and are given to show 
the proper proportions of parts, and the method of mixing 
loams : 

3 pails of fire sand, 

2 pails of moulding sand, 

1 to 10 pails of horse manure. 

Wet with thick clay wash. 

4 of fire sand, 

1 of moulding sand, 
1 of dry sieved fire-clay, 
1 of white pine sawdust. 

Wet with thin clay wash. 

For a finishing loam, the same mixture would sometimes 



348 



LOAM MIXTUKES. 



be used ; the only difference is, that the clay and manure 
should be left out, and instead of putting the sand through 
a No. 4 riddle, it would be screened through a No. 8 sieve ; 
and again, 1 part of fire sand, and 3 j^arts of moulding- 
sand would be used, and the mixture wet with beer. If, 
however, the moulding sand was not too close, it could be 
used by itself if wet with beer. 

Mixtures of loam containing fire sand are in general used 
only in the Eastern and Middle States. The following 
mixtures are of a Western origin, although similar mixtures 
are often used in the East : 

4 or 5 of loam sand, according to clayeyness, 
1 of lake sand, 
1 of manure. 



Wet with medium clay wash. 

Finishing loam is the same, only screened through a No. 
8 riddle. 

Mixture of loam used for making thin pulley patterns : 



2 of fair loam sand, 

1 of old burnt loam, 

2 of lake sand, 
1 of manure. 



Wet with very thin clay wash. 

In the first casting of these pulley patterns only the 
ordinary mixtures were used ; but when the moulds were 
cast, the iron blew so hard that but little was left in tlie 
mould. With the above weak mixtures, however, the cast- 
ings came out all right. It is sometimes a good tiling to 



LOAM MIXTURES. 349 

use about one to twenty of sea-coal in loam for light thin 
castings. The following mixture 

1 of strong loam sand, 
1 of coarse lake sand, 
1 to 6 of manure, 

wet with water, proved very bad, because the loam sand was 
so clayey that it took too large a quantity of coarse lake sand 
to make it open enough to use. In any loam mixture it is not 
well to have to combine sands which are very close and very 
open, or have to mix coarse sands together in order to make 
a mixture that will work satisfactorily. The nearer to an 
even nature we can get the sharp and the clayey sands, 
when the two are mixed together, the closer we approach a 
natural loam. 

The great difficulty in using finishing loam mixtures is, 
that they generally close up the pores of the under or coarse 
loam too much, and thereby render a mould liable to scab. 
The following mixture gave results very satisfactorily for 
heavy castings, as the casting came out as smooth as a piece 
of thin stove plate, and this same mixture was used for the 
finishing loam on swept-up rolls. It was mixed as follows : 

2 of old dry sand,* 
1 of strong loam sand, 
1 of lake sand, 
\ coke dust or sea-coal. 

Wet with water. 

In connection with the following loam mixture the name 

* This was taken out of a dry sand mould mixture, having been used 
once, the life was partly burnt out of it. 



350 LOAM MIXTURES. 

of Mr. William Fitzsimmons must be mentioned, since 
lie has accomplished by his own genius many valua- 
ble results in foundry practice. His loam mixture, which 
works well, is one that can be made in most any section of 
foundry practice. 

5^ of lake or bank sand, 
2J of moulding sand, 
1^ of horse manure, 
3 of clay wash. 

This loam is mostly sharp sand, and to give it strength 
the clay wash is used. This clay wash is mixed in such a 
manner that there is a certain quality of clay in every 
batch without fail. The mixing of this clay wash is the 
most important part of the mixture, and must be measured 
very exactly by the following plan : Take a large barrel 
that will not leak, and for every well-packed pail of common 
clay put in tw^o full pails of water, and then for every three 
pails of clay put in half a shovel of flour; this will help to 
thicken and ferment the clay wash. Then the whole 
should be allowed to stand over night, so as to soak the 
clay soft. In the morning all the clay is thoroughly mixed. 
When the sand is all ready to be wet the three pails of clay 
wash are taken from the barrel and mixed in it. Should 
the sand be unusually dry, so that the three pails of clay 
wash would not wet it enough, use for the balance water. 
If the sand be very wet, use a stronger proportion of clay 
in the wash. If required to use this loam after it is old, 
always wet it with water. This loam, and, in fact, any loam 
is better if mixed two or three days before using, for it is 
tougher and more of a loamy nature. 

If a stronger loam is desired, only use seven pails of sand 
to three pails of clay wash. For a finishing loam mix the 



LOAM MIXTUEES. 351 

same proportions of sand, but instead of the horse manure 
use cow manure, for it makes a smootlier-skinned casting. 
Take 1^ pails of fresh manure, and mix the three pails of 
clay wash with it, rubbing the manure and clay through a 
No. 4 riddle ; then mix it with sand which has been screened 
through a No. 8 riddle. The horse manure can be used in 
place of the cow manure, if more accessible. 

The following is a mixture of loam which can be made 
from moulding and lake or bank sands : 

1 of moulding sand, 

1]- of bank sand, 

1 to 20 of dried sieved fire clay, 

1 to 6 of horse manure. 

Sometimes one to twenty of coke dust or sea-coal is mixed 
with the loam. 

This loam was wet with good clay wash, and worked well 
on the castings. 

An odd kind of sand is sometimes found, resembling 
meal, and looks very much like fire sand, except it is not so 
red. It is more loamy, however, and has nearly as much 
body as moulding sand. Mixed as follows it made a 
splendid loam : 

5 of the meal sand, 

2 of lake sand, 

1|- of horse manure. 

Wet with medium clay wash. 

All the above clay washes (except when fire-clay is named) 
are made from common red clay, and what is here meant 
by loam sand is a sand which contains more clay in it than 
moulding sand, making it of a loamy nature. 



352 LOAM MIXTURES. 

The lake or bank sand comes under the head of sharp 
sand, and is always used for an opener. 

There are two bad features mixtures of loam sometimes 
possess : one. is, it will not stand the dropping or washing of 
iron on it ; and the other, it will scab. 

Iron borings or filings are useful to use sometimes in loam 
to keep it from cutting, or a little flour will answer ; of course 
this should only be used on that part where the iron strikes 
it directly, as if used in any other part it might render it 
liable to scab ; a mixture of loam can be so made as to both 
cut and scab by making it of a close, weak mixture. Very 
fine-grained sands will generally scab and cut easier than 
open-grained sands. If a mixture of loam can be made from 
open sand having body enough to stand the iron, it is better 
than to use a close-grained sand in order to give it strength. 
The best mixed loams are those which will stand the drop- 
ping of iron and not scab in any part of the mould, and to 
obtain such a mixture depends much upon the mixer's judg- 
ment and the quality of the sands which he has to use. 



DRY SAND MIXTURES. 353 



DKY SAND MIXTURES. 

Dry sand moulding is in many respects similar to loam 
moulding. 

A cut or a scab on a dry sand casting is the result of 
similar causes as scabs or cuts on loam castings, and the 
mixture of loam used generally calls for about the same pro- 
portion of sand for making dry sand facings. What is meant 
by facing sand is, that sand which forms the surface of a 
mould, and its thickness ranges from one to two inches ; the 
sand which is at the back of this has not such care taken 
with its proportion or mixing. This backing sand answers 
very much tlie same purpose as the bricks in a loam mould, 
giving support to the surface. Backing sand should be 
worked as open as possible, so as to allow gases of the sur- 
face sand to escape through it as freely as possible, and the 
facing sand should be worked as open as its strength will 
permit. The dampness of the sand should not greatly ex- 
ceed that of green sand, as the wetter tlie sand when used, 
the harder and closer will it be when dried. A dry sand 
facing frequently is made wetter for some jobs than for 
others. If a mould takes three or four days to ram, or if 
that time elapses before it can be finished ready for the oven, 
the mixture should be made damper than if it was to go in the 
oven the same clay it was mixed. In making dry sand facings 
it is better to have them well tramped and mixed, as by so 
doing it will give strength and toughness to them. The fol- 
lowing are a few mixtures that will give the pro23ortion and 
afford an idea how to make dry sand mixtures : 



354 DRY SAI^D MIXTURES. 

12 pails of lake sand, 
12 pails of strong loam sand, 
4 j^ails of moulding sand, 
1 to 10 of coke dust, 
1;^ of flour. 
Wet with water. 

The above was used for the teeth of a large spur-gear 
wheel, and it worked well. This mixture would be too close 
for flat surface moulds, but for the teeth of gear wheel 
sand, it is better if worked closer, for the teeth will hang 
and mould up better, and as long as they are well vented 
there is very little risk of scabbing. 

The following mixture was used for making a large bevel 
wheel, and the sand was made more open because the teeth 
were on a bed, and therefore there was no danger of their 
dropping. The sand could be made more open, and thus 
lessen the danger of scabbing, which is a thing dry sand 
bevel-gear wheels are sometimes liable to do. 

The Jersey sand here mentioned is similar to a fine lake 
fiand, except it is whiter ; it is a sand somewhat like fire sand, 
and has more of a body to it than lake sand. 

1 of moulding sand, 
1 of Jersey sand, 
1 of fire sand, 
1 to 16 of sea-coal. 

Wet with thin clay wash. 

The following mixture made a close facing, but was one 
where there was danger of scabbing : 

1 of close loam, 
1 of open loam, 
1 to 16 of sea coal. 

Wet with clay wash. 



i 



DRY SAKD MIXTURES. 355 

There are sometimes places where a loam sand cannot be 
procured ; in such places the mixture below will be found to 
give satisfaction. 

6 pails of moulding sand, 
1^ pails of lake or bank sand, 
1 to 30 of flour. 

Wet with clay wash. 

This same mixture was used for backing, only it was not 
mixed so carefully, and about 1 to 40 of flour used. With 
this mixture cylinders, as well as jobbing work, have been 
cast. 

Another mixture for cylinders is ; 

4 of fair loam, 

1 of lake, 

1 to 14 of sea-coal or coke dust. 

Wet with clay wash according to clayeyness of the loam, 
in fact in any mixture where clay wash is used its thickness 
should be regulated by the nature of the sand. The backing 
used with this facing was 5 parts of loam and 1 part of lake 
wet with clay wash. 

A mixture that can be made most anywhere, and is good 
for ordinary work, is as follows : 

1 of moulding sand, 
1 of bank sand. 

Use li of bank sand when it is wanted open, and 1 to 
30 of flour, 1 to 20 of blacking, wet with clay wash, and 
for the backing the same proportion of sand was used having 
about 1 to 30 of flour, omitting the sea-coal blacking. 

The following mixture was made because a very clayey 



356 DRY SAliTD MIXTURES. 

loam had to be used, and to make it work there had to be a 
larger proportion of coarse lake sand. 

6 of strong loam sand, 
6 of lake sand, 
2 of old dry sand, 
1 to 40 of flour, 
1 to 14 of flour. 

Wet with water. 

The backing was mixed from half lake and half loam 
sands ; the whole mixture was then used for cylinder casting. 

In the same shop rolls were made by being swept up. A 
good mixture for the grooves was as follows : 

2 pails of old dry sand, 
1 pail of lake sand, 
1 to 12 of sea-coal, 
1 to 18 of flour. 

Made as wet as could be worked with thick clay wash. 
For the body of the rolls the old sand was used, and it was 
renewed as follows : 

16 pails of the old sand, 
8 pails of lake sand, 
4 pails of new loam. 

Wet with water. 

This is a good proportion to use in renewing any old dry 
sand, as there is twice as much open sand used as loam or 
clayey sand. The great trouble with old dry sand is its 
closeness, since every time it is used it becomes more fine 
and dusty, hence a good thing to do with old dry sand is to 
shovel it into a ISTo. 8 sieve, and by shaking it a little the 



DRY SAKD MIXTURES. 



357 



dusty or very fine portion of the sand will separate from the 
better and coarser qualities of the sand, which when thrown 
in a pile by itself and the fine dust screened out, and some 
new sand added to renew it, will be found to work well. All 
new dry sand mixtures should be mixed in proportions 
according to the nature of the sand and the moulder's judg- 
ment of what is required for his special job. 



¥ 



358 COKE SAl^TD MIXTUKES. 



COKE SAND MIXTURES. 

Cores are generally used to form the interior portions of 
castings, and the least neglect or mismanagement in making 
them is apt to cause trouble. There is no portion of a 
casting that requires such care in respect to venting. The 
vent of the outside portion of a mould may sometimes be 
confined and no harm done to the casting ; but let the vent 
of a core nearly surrounded with iron be confined, and the 
result is a bad casting. There are two reasons for the con- 
finement of gases in cores ; the first is, they may not be suffi- 
ciently vented, or it may be improperly done ; and the second, 
the iron is allowed to get into the vents by not having 
them well secured or made air-tight in their prints. 

There are three modes of venting cores. The first is by 
using straight rods. The second, by using strings, ropes, 
or bands of straw or hay. This class of venting is only 
done in crooked cores. Sometimes the strings or ropes are 
coated with wax or soap, and in some cases they are not 
pulled out until the core is dried. Another plan, some- 
times practiced in venting partially crooked cores, is to use 
straight rods in the straight part, letting them run through 
the print as far as they will go into the straight portion of 
the core box, without danger of coming too close to the 
sides of the box, and when the core is dried the crooked 
portion is then vented by using vents filed or scratched into 
it, and then passing a string or rope through the straight 
vents into the openings made in the crooked part, filling up 
the balance of the filed out openings with a mixture of half 
stiff blacking and core sand ; then the strings or ropes are 



CORE SAND MIXTURES. 359 

pulled out, leaving a clear vent. This plan is practiced 
considerably in the making of cylinder ports, or S cores, as 
they are sometimes called. If there are any doubts as to 
the clearness of the vents, they can be tested by blowing 
tobacco smoke through them, after which the end of the 
vents opposite to the prints are carefully stopped up. 

The THIRD MODE OF VESTING is practiced in the making 
of large cores. In this case the interior portion of the core 
is filled with coke or fine cinders, thus saving core sand and 
firing, as well as affording means to carry off the vent. 

The mixture of core sands depends upon the class of cores 
to be made. For small cores finer sand should be used 
than for large cores. There are two articles, flour and rosin, 
that are used to mix with the core sand, in order to make 
them firm and solid when dried. Flour is most commonly 
used, on account of the ease with which it will mix with 
sand. Rosin is good for cores that are hard to vent, as the 
gases escape and ignite freer than when flour is used. 
Rosin cores also will stand the dampness of green sand 
moulds, and, as a general thing, leave a smoother surface 
or hole in a casting than flour. 

The following are mixtures of core sands in use. The 
common mixture of sand for large ordinary cores is 

2 of lake or bank sand, 

1 of moulding sand. 

From 1 to 12, up to 1 to 18 of flour. 

Cores that are not to be handled much can be mixed 
with less flour than cores which are to be filled and lifted in 
and out of moulds several times, in order to make them fit. 
For wetting the sand some shops use an all clay wash, while 
others will use nothing but water, and again there are a few 
shops that use only beer or molasses water. This makes a 
good strong core, but on account of its expense it is but little 



360 CORE SAND MIXTURES. 

used. For such cores as are required to be very firm and 
solid, some foundries do not use clay wash or water, but go 
to the extra expense of using beer or molasses water, which 
in many cases is advisable. When beer or molasses water | 
is used, a less percentage of flour is required. In mixing 
sand for large cores, it is sometimes advisable to mix it half 
lake or bank sand, and half moulding sand. Having an 
excess of moulding sand will cause the core to hold together, 
while it is green, better than if the sharp sand is used in 
excess, as given in the first receipt. When the core sand 
is mixed half and half, as above stated, it is better to have 
the sand wet with some beer or molasses water, so as to give 
the core firmness when dried. Many places mix their sand 
for very large cores as follows : 

3 of lake or bank sand, 
1 of moulding sand, 
1 to 14 of flour. 

Wet with clay wash. 

But cores thus made should be well rodded and rammed, 
especially if the core is one that stands up straight. Such I 
a mixture will stand a hot fire better than if more moulding 
sand is used in it. 

For making hard fine small cores a good mixture is : 

3 of moulding sand, 
1 of lake or bank sand, 
1 to 14 of flour or rosin. 

Wet with molasses water, mixed about 1 to 20, or one 
pint of molasses to a pail of water. 

In using rosin, pound it into a fine powder in an iron 
kettle or pot. Sometimes all moulding sand is used, when 
rosin is mixed in it, and agam the rosin and flour are used 



CORE SAKD 3IIXTUEES. 361 

together, the rosin being mixed with it to make the vents 
come off more freely. 

Rye flour is often used for making core sand, and it 
makes a nice open core, and is also good for making paste 
to joint cores with, or may be used on the joints of moulds, 
as it is not so sticky to handle. 

To show some of the different ways that core sand is 
mixed for special jobs, the following receipts are given : 

CAR WHEEL CORES. 

6 of sharp sand, 
1 of moulding sand, 
1 to 16 of flour. 

Wet with water. 

INGOT CORES, FOR MAKING CASTINGS TO POUR STEEL INTO. 

66 pails of coarse lake sand, 
66 pails of moulding sand, 
18 pails of clayey loam, 
14 pails of horse manure, 
2 pails of flour. 

Wet with water. 

This mixture made a loamy open core sand, which will 
hang together, with little danger of its scabbing. 

CORE SAND, FOR MAKING SEGMENT CORES FOR FORMING 
OR MAKING LARGE GEAR WHEELS. 

2 of moulding sand, 
1 of bank sand, 
1 of Jersey or fire sand, 
1 to 16 of blacking, 
1 to 20 of flour. 

Wet with thin clay wash. 
16 



3G2 



COEE SAND MIXTUKES. 



CORES IN HEAVY CASTING. 

When cores run through heavy bodies of iron, tlie hot 
liquid raises the fasible element of the sand to such a high 
temperature that the grains fuse together, so that when the 
casting cleaner tries to get the core out, he finds it almost 
as hard as the iron. A good thing to prevent this fusing of 
the sand is to mix some sea-coal or blacking in it, and to 
give the surface of the core a good body of black lead, or 
plumbago blacking. This outside coat of blacking will pre- 
vent the liquid iron from eating into the surface of the core 
sand, and the sea-coal or blacking mixed in the sand burns 
away and passes off in the form of gas, leaving a porous body 
between the grains of sand, which assists in preventing its 
fusing. In putting rods in such cores as are subjected to 
high temperature, it is a good plan to coat them with two 
or three thick coats of flour paste, and dry them in an 
oven as it is put on ; for by doing this the dried paste burns 
off from the rod, and leaves it free to come out of the 
casting. 



GEEEK SAKD FACIKGS. 363 



GREEN SAND FACINGS. 

The nature of the sand with which a green sand mould 
is made affects the quality of the casting to a remarkable 
extent. To make fine light castings, finer grades of sand 
are used, and coarser for the large heavy castings. The 
main reason for using the coarser grades of sand for heavy 
work is, such sands generally have more body to withstand 
heavy heats, and again, coarser sands admit of being rammed 
harder with far less danger of scabbing the moulds. 

It would be a hard matter to definitely show how any one 
could decide if a new grade of sand was suited to his special 
class of work, since a judge of moulding sand must be a 
person of some experience at moulding, or one familiar 
with moulding sand. 

A moulder, in deciding if moulding sand will answer his 
purpose, generally takes some in his hand, and after giving 
it a squeeze, he will then hold the oblong ball by one of 
its ends, slightly swinging it to and fro, to test its hanging 
qualities, after which he will closely examine the grain of 
the sand by laying it on some flat surface. If he should 
observe too large a percentage of quicksand in it, it v»^ould 
not be very favorable for his purpose, especially so where 
the sand is to be used for making heavy castings ; in 
fact, for any class of work too much quicksand is very ob- 
jectionable. Moulders prefer a sand having a good body, 
and of a porous nature, for heavy work, and a fine grain 
sand for light work. Sometimes foundries receive sand 
having weeds growing in it. Such sand as this is gener- 



364 GREEI^ SAKD FACINGS. 

ally rich. An occurrence that happened not long ago 
with sand having weeds in it may here be cited. In 
making some large floor plates, the first one was lost, be- 
cause there were some little lumps on the cope side of the 
casting, and underneath these lumps were hollow places. 
Many reasons were given for the failure, but nothing seemed 
satisfactory. Another one was cast, and as the shop was 
only casting every other day, the mould was closed, and on 
the day after, just before casting time, the cope was lifted 
off, and then it appeared. Another bad casting would have 
resulted if the casting had been made, for there were little 
sand mounds in several places on the bottom part of the 
mould, and in looking under the cope there appeared small 
weeds growing downwards. As these. weeds grew they 
pushed down the sand, leaving the lumps on top, and the 
holes in the bottom, which appeared in the first cast- 
ing. 

As a general thing, sea-coal or bituminous facing is mixed 
in with sands for heavy casting, or for casting machinery ; 
but sometimes coke dust is used. The mixing of these 
facings with sand prevents, to a certain extent, the grams 
of the sand from being partially melted, and prevents the 
hot iron from burning and penetrating into the sand. 
There is a limit as to the percentage of facings to be mixed 
with the sand, which, if exceeded on the heavy castings, 
causes the iron to eat into the facing sand, and leaves a 
casting full of sharp veins. 

For light casting, too great a quantity of mixed facings is 
apt to prevent the castings from running sharply, or will 
cause it to be cold shut. Facings also have a tendency to 
make the skin of a casting hard. The proportions in which 
sea-coal or facings are mixed with sand, ranges from one to 
six up to one to tiventy, one to six being about as strong as 
it will stand, so as to not have the casting look veined, and 



GREEI^^ SAND FACIKGS. 365 

one to twenty is about as weak as it can be mixed, to show 
any effect on castings. 

For light castings under three eighths of an inch thick- 
ness, facing sand is very seldom used, and for castings rang- 
ing from f " up to 1\", there is generally one part of sea- 
coal or coke dust mixed in with ten of sand. From 1^" 
up to 2|^" it is generally mixed one to eiglit, and all over 
2 J" is commonly mixed one to seven, or six. In using facing 
sand, it is not always the thickness of the casting which is 
a guide for the strength of the facing sand to be used. 
There are other things to be considered: the first is whether 
it is desired to pour the casting with hot or dull iron ; the 
second, the distance of some parts from the point where the 
iron enters the mould ; and the third, how long a time it 
takes for a mould to become filled with iron. Heavy solid 
lumps of castings have been known to be cold shut, from 
using what might be called facing weak in proportion to 
the thickness of the casting. Strong facing on the sides 
of a mould where the iron runs in and rises up slowly, 
will sometimes cause heavy thick castings to be cold shut. 
The square corners of a casting should have- weaker facing 
sand used upon or against them than the straight plain 
surfaces ; and the lower parts of high moulds should have a 
stronger facing used upon them than the upper portions, since 
if the strong facings were used at the most distant or ujiper 
portions of a mould, as can be done at the lower portions, or 
those near the gates, the castings would be sometimes liable 
to become cold shut. In some places, in mixing facing 
sand, they use one half old heap sand and one half new 
sand ; but the majority of shops use new sand throughout. 
When old sand is used, less sea-coal facing is required. In 
mixing facing sand, it should be well mixed and riddled. 
A facing sand passed through a No. 8 sieve before going 
against the pattern, will make a smoother casting than that 



366 GREEN SAND FACINGS. 

passed through a No. 4 riddle. A stronger facing sand 
can also be used on very thick castings, by having it well 
tramped and mixed. There are many receipts of green 
sand mixtures here given, placed in with the articles, under 
the head of Green Sand Moulding. 

A mixture for one Job may have to be changed for another, 
although it apparently looks the same, and in green sand 
moulding as in loam or dry sand. The moulder has often 
many points to consider in order to properly make and use 
sand mixtures. 



CLEANING CASTINGS. 367 



CLEANING CASTINGS. 

The geneml idea of a good casting is one that looks well 
with the least amount of labor spent in cleaning it. Some 
moulders will make castings that require only half the labor 
to chip and clean them which others will. Sometimes 
gates will be cut so clumsily on small castings, that it takes 
longer to chip them than it does to make the mould. Or, 
again, the castings may be all strained and swelled, or 
scabbed ; and when the chipper has spent more time to 
clean it than it took to mould it, the moulder will take the 
credit for its final appearance. 

To properly clean castings is as essential as to properly 
mould them. A well-regulated foundry will always be 
found to have facilities for the cleaning, as well as for the 
moulding of its castings. If possible, castings should be 
cleaned in a department separated from the moulding-room ; 
and for cleaning large castings there should be an ample 
supply of cape, cold sets, hand chisels, and different-shaped 
scrapers and wire brushes, together with a place for each 
class of tools, so that there will be no time lost in hunting 
for them. 

The cleaning of small castings requires vitriol bath tubs, 
and tumbling or rolling barrels. The latter are generally 
used in shops that make small castings a specialty. The 
method of using vitriol, generally employed, is by means of 
an inclined wooden platform, having its lowest point hang- 
ing over an iron or wooden kettle, or box, and in this will be 
placed a mixture of about one third vitriol and two thirds 



368 CLEANING CASTINGS. 

water. The castings are then placed on the inclined plat- 
form, and a long-handled iron dipper is used to spread the 
mixture of vitriol and water on them. They are then left 
to dry nntd they appear of a whitish-looking color, the 
time required for this being from eight to twelve hours. If 
one application of the vitriol does not remove or loosen all 
the scale, the process must be repeated. 

By the side of this inclined platform is usually placed an 
iron kettle, or oblong wooden box, with which a water or 
steam pipe is connected. If cold water is used after the 
box is partially filled up, the steam is turned on, and the 
water made as hot as jicssible, after which the castings lay- 
ing on the inclined platform are placed in this hot water, 
and when thoroughly washed are lifted out. After the 
water is all drained from them, they are placed in a box 
filled with sawdust, so as to prevent them from becoming 
rusted. Wooden boxes lined with lead are believed to be 
better than others, since vitriol would soon eat iron kettles. 
The hot water into which castings are placed, should be 
often renewed ; for to dip castings in water that has been 
used three or four times is apt to leave a whitish color upon 
some parts of the casting. Before castings are wet with the 
vitriol pickle they should be cleaned, so as to remove all the 
sand and scale, which can readily be taken off ; for the more 
sand there is remaining, the longer it will take for the pickle 
to affect them. 

Another plan for cleaning small castings, whose form will 
permit, is to place them in cylindrical barrels, so con- 
structed that the castings can be readily placed in and taken 
from them. 

In this method sometimes cinders are mixed with the 
castings, or the barrel may be partially filled with castings 
and some fine shot, and the remaining space filled with long 
wooden blocks. These blocks, as a general thing, are only 



CLEAiq^ING CASTINGS. 369 

used when there are not enough castings to fill up the bar- 
rel, or when the castings are of such a shape that the barrel 
could not otherwise be packed tight. 

Light and heavy castings should not be put in a barrel 
together, as there is danger that the heayy ones would break 
the light ones. 

Some shops which have many quite small and light cast- 
ings to tumble, have a large number of star-shaped shot put 
in with them. These little stars are similar to |" or V' 
round shot, with four or five sharp points projecting about 
I". The sharp points find their way into all corners of the 
castings, as the barrel revolves, and the castings are thor- 
oughly cleaned by them. 

The cleaning of large castings is generally done by hand, 
and it is as essential casting cleaners should be neat and 
particular in performing their part of the work, as that the 
moulders should be in theirs, if a shop would have the 
reputation of making good, smooth castings. 
16^ 



370 WEIGHTS OF CASTIJ^-GS. 



WEIGHTS OF CASTmGS. 

It is no uncommon occurrence for a moulder, in pouring 
castings, to have them run short of the proper amount 
of iron. Not of necessity from a deliberate design, but 
because his judgment has deceived him, either by miscalcu- 
lating the amount in the ladle, or that required to fill the 
mould. In pouring heavy castings the moulder should 
seldom depend upon his judgment, for the risk is too 
great. 

The volume of all parts of a mould should be found by 
careful measurement and calculation, and thus the proper 
amount of iron can be secured. 

Often, even if moulders are good mathematicians, they 
will, to save a little extra labor in calculating, pour their 
moulds by guess-ioorh, and sometimes find to their sorrow 
they have been deceived. The following tables and rules 
are given to assist the moulder in this branch of his 
trade. 

The decimals or fractions of pounds obtained are not 
given, since in practice castings can seldom be found to 
weigh exactly what the calculations call for, and the less 
figures a table contains the easier will they be under- 
stood. 

To find the weight of square or oblong plates one inch in 
thickness, multijDly the length dy the breadth. Then multi- 
ply the area in cubic inches thus obtained by the decimal 
.2607 (the weight of a cubic inch of cast iron), which gives 
the weight of plate in pounds. Example : 



WEIGHTS OF CASTINGS. 371 



To find the weight of a 


square 


plate 12 inches on the side 


and one inch thick. 




12" 
12 


Cubic inches in plate, 




144 

.2607 

1008 
8640 


Weight of r>late in Doundf 


3 


288 



and decimals, 37.5408 = 37tVo ^bs. 

To find the weight of round, square, or oblong plates, 
having oblong, square, or round holes in them, subtract 
the volume of the hole from the volume of the plate, which, 
multiplied bj .2607, will give the weight in pounds. Some- 
times, by referring to the tables of weights of square or 
round plates, the weight of a plate the size of the hole is 
found, which, subtracted from the weight of a solid plate 
the size of the outside diameter or square, gives the weight 
of the ring or plate one inch thick, having a square or round 
hole. 

Knowing the weight of any square or round plates one 
inch in thickness, it is then very easy to obtain the weight 
of thicker plates, by simply multiplying the weight by the 
increased thickness. For instance, if the plate is one and 
a quarter inch in thickness, the weight will be one fourth 
more ; or, if one and a half inch in thickness, will be one 
half heavier than the weights given in the tables. But if 
only three quarters of an inch thickness, here the plate will 
be one quarter lighter in weight. 

In order to test correctness of tables, and obtain the deci- 
mals if wanted, the rules and examples are given as shown. 



372 



WEIGHTS OF CASTINGS. 



TABLE I. 



LENGTH 


OF SIDE. 


FOR SQUARE 


PLATES 


1" THICK. 


WEIGHTS. 


12 inches. 


For square 


plates 


1" thick. 


37i 


lbs. 


13 


<( 


ii 


ii 


ii 


44 


ii 


14 


ii 


ii 


a 


ii 


51 


ii 


15 


(i 


ii 


a 


ii 


b^ 


ii 


16 


ii 


ii 


ii 


ii 


^H 


ii 


17 


ii 


ii 


ii 


a 


75 


ii 


18 


ii 


ii 


(( 


ii 


84 


ii 


19 


ii 


ii 


ii 


ti 


95 


a 


20 


ii 


ii 


ii 


a 


104 


ii 


21 


ii 


ii 


ii 


a 


115 


a 


22 


ii 


ii 


ii 


ii 


126 


ii 


23 


ii 


ii 


ii 


a 


138 


ii 


24 


ii 


ii 


ii 


ii 


150 


ii 


25 


ii 


ii 


ii 


ii 


163 


ii 


26 


ii 


ii 


a 


ii 


176 


a 


27 


ii 


ii 


ii 


ii 


190 


ii 


28 


ii 


a 


i i 


ii 


204 


ii 


29 


ii 


ii 


ii 


ii 


219 


ii 


30 


ii 


ii 


ii 


ii 


235 


ii 


31 


ii 


a 


ii 


ii 


251 


ii 


32 


ii 


ii 


a 


ii 


267 


ii 


33 


ii 


ii 


ii 


ii 


284 


ii 


34 


ii 


ii 


a 


ii 


301 


ii 


35 


ii 


ii 


ii 


ii 


319 


ii 


36 


ii 


a 


ii 


ii 


338 


a 


37 


ii 


ii 


ii 


ii 


357 


ii 


38 


ii 


ii 


it 


ii 


376 


ii 


39 


ii 


ii 


ii 


ii 


397 


ii 


40 


ii 


ii 


ii 


ii 


417 


a 



WEIGHTS OF CASTINGS. 
TABLE I.— Continued. 



373 



LENGTH 


OF SIDE. 


FOR SQUARE 


PLATES 1" 


THICK. 


WEIGHTS. 


41 inches. 


For square 


plates 1" 


thick. 


438 


lbs. 


42 


a 


a 


(( 


a 


459 


a 


43 


a 


(( 


a 


a 


482 


ii 


44 


a 


a 


a 


a 


505 


ii 


45 


a 


a 


<( 


a 


528 


" 


46 


a 


6i 


(( 


({ 


552 


ii 


47 


a 


i( 


i( 


it 


576 


{» 


48 


a 


a 


a 


a 


601 


ii 


49 


a 


a 


a 


a 


626 


a 


50 


a 


a 


(( 


a 


652 


ii 


51 


i( 


a 


a 


a 


678 


a 


52 


a 


a 


(( 


a 


705 


a 


53 


a 


a 


ii 


a 


732 


a 


54 


a 


a 


a 


a 


760 


ii 


55 


a 


a 


a 


a 


789 


a 


56 


<i 


(( 


a 


i( 


818 


a 


57 


i( 


a 


a 


i( 


847 


a 


58 


a 


a 


a 


a 


876 


ii 


59 


a 


a 


a 


(( 


907 


ii 


60 


a 


a 


a 


ii 


939 


a 


61 


a 


a 


a 


a 


970 


ii 


62 


a 


a 


i( 


ii 


1002 


ii 


• 63 


a 


(( 


a 


ii 


1035 


ii 


64 


a 


a 


a 


ii 


1068 


a 


65 


a 


i( 


a 


ii 


1101 


ii 


66 


a 


a 


a 


ii 


1136 


ii 


67 


a 


a 


a 


a 


1170 


ii 


68 


a 


a 


a 


a 


1205 


ii 


69 


a 


a 


a 


ii 


1241 


ii 



374 



WEIGHTS OF CASTINGS. 



TABLE 1.— Continued, 



LENGTH OF SIDE. 


FOR SQUARE PLATES 1" THICK. 


WEIGHTS. 


70 inches. 


For square plates 1" thick. 


1277 lbs. 


71 ' 












1314 ' 




72 ' 












1352 ' 




73 ' 












1389 ' 




74 ' 












1428 ' 




75 ' 












1467 ' 




76 ' 












1506 ' 




77 ' 












1546 ' 




78 ' 












1586 ' 




79 ^ 












1627 ' 




80 ' 












1668 ^ 




81 ^ 












1711 ' 




82 ^ 












1753 ^ 




83 ' 












1796 ' 




84 ^ 












1839 ^ 




85 ' 












1884 ^ 




86 ^ 












1928 ' 




87 ^ 












1973 ^ 




88 ' 












2019 ' 




89 ' 












2065 ^ 




90 ' 












2112 ^ 




91 ' 












2159 ' 




92 ^ 












2207 ^ 




93 ' 












2255 ' 




94 ^ 












2304 * 




95 ' 












2353 ^ 




96 ^ 












2403 ' 




97 ^ 












2453 ^ 




98 ' 












2504 ' 





WEIGHTS OF CASTIN^GS. 



375 



TABLE I.— Continued, 



LENGTH 


OF SIDE. 


FOR SQUARE 


PLATES 1" 


THICK. 


WEIGHTS. 


99 inches. 


For square 


plates 1" 


thick. 


2555 


lbs. 


100 


a 


a 


a 


ii 


2607 


a 


101 


a 


(( 


a 


ii 


2659 


ii 


102 


a 


(( 


a 


ii 


2712 


ii 


103 


a 


a 


a 


ii 


2766 


ii 


104 


a 


a 


ii 


a 


2820 


ii 


105 


a 


a 


a 


ii 


2874 


ii 


106 


a 


a 


it 


ii 


2929 


ii 


107 


a 


a 


a 


ii 


2985 


ii 


108 


a 


a 


ii 


ii 


3041 


ii 


109 


a 


'' 


a 


ii 


3097 


ii 


110 


a 


a 


a 


ii 


3154 


ii 


111 


a 


a 


ii 


ii 


3212 


ii 


112 


a 


a 


ii 


ii 


3270 


ii 


113 


a 


(( 


a 


ii 


3329 


ii 


114 


it 


a 


ii 


ii 


3388 


ii 


115 


a 


a 


ii 


ii 


3448 


ii 


116 


a 


a 


ii 


ii 


3508 


ii 


117 


a 


iC 


ii 


ii 


3569 


ii 


118 


a 


{( 


a 


ii 


3630 


ii 


119 


a 


66 


ii 


ii 


3692 


ii 


120 


a 


(i 


ii 


ii 


3754 


ii 


121 


a 


(i 


ii 


ii 


3817 


ii 


122 


a 


<( 


ii 


a 


3880 


ii 


123 


a 


i( 


ii 


ii 


3944 


ii 


124 


a 


ii 


ii 


a 


4009 


ii 


125 


a 


a 


ii 


ii 


4073 


ii 


126 


a 


a 


ii 


a 


4139 


ii 


127 


a 


a 


a 


ii 


4205 


ii 



376 



WEIGHTS OF CASTINGS. 



TABLE I.— Continued. 



LENGTH OF SIDE. 


FOR SQUARE PLATES 1" THICK. 


WEIGHTS. 


128 inches. 


For square plates 1" thick. 


4271 lbs. 


129 " 




4338 '' 


130 " 




4406 '' 


131 " 




4474 " 


132 '' 




4542 " 


133 '' 




4612 " 


134 '' 




4681 " 


135 '' 




4751 ^^ 


136 '' 




4822 '' 


137 '' 




4893 " 


138 " 




4965 " 


139 " 




5037 '' 


140 ^^ 




5110 ^^ 


141 '' 




5183 '' 


142 *^ 




5257 '^ 


143 '' 




5331 " 


144 '^ 




5406 ^' 



To find the weight of round cast-iron plates one inch in 
thickness. 

Square the diameter of plate, and multiply by decimal 
.7854, which will give area in square inches, which, mul- 
tiplied by the decimal .2607, will give the weight in 
pounds. 



Example : To find the weight of a round plate 12" diam- 
eter and one inch thick. 



WEIGHTS OF CASTIJ^-QS. 



377 



Diameter of plate, 



Square of diameter. 



Area in square inches. 



Weight of plate in 

pounds and decimals, 



12" 
12 

24 
12 

144 

.7854 

576 
720 
1152 
1008 

113.0976 

.2607 

7916832 
67858560 
2261952 

29.48454432 = 29yVo lbs. 



The following table gives the weight of round cast-iron 
plates, from 12 inches in diameter to 144 inches, the thick- 
ness being 1 inch. 

TABLE II. 



DIAMETER IN INCHES. 


FOR ROUND PLATES 1" THICK. 


WEIGHTS. 


12 inches. 


For round plates 1" thick. 


29i lbs. 


13 '' 




35 " 


14 '' 




40 '' 


15 '' 




46 " 


16 '' 


^ 


52 " 


17 " 




59 '' 


18 '' 




m '' 



378 



WEIGHTS OF CASTIlSrGS. 



TABLE IL— Continued. 



DIAMETER IN INCHES. 


FOR ROUND PLATES 1" 


THICK. 


WEIGHTS. 


19 


inches. 


For round plates 1" 


thick. 


74 lbs. 


20 




(< (( 


a 


82 "' 


21 




a a 


ii 


90 '' 


22 




a a 


a 


99 '' 


23 




i( a 


a 


108 '' 


24 




i( a 


a 


118 '' 


25 




a a 


a 


129 '' 


26 




a a 


(( 


139 '' 


27 




a a 


(( 


149 '' 


28 




a a 


a 


160 '' 


29 




a a 


a 


172 '' 


30 




a a 


a 


185 " 


31 


^• 


(( a 


a 


197 " 


32 


a 


i( a 


a 


210 '' 


33 




a a 


a 


223 '' 


34 




i( a 


a 


237 " 


■ 35 




i( a 


a 


251 '' 


36 




a (( 


a 


266 '' 


37 




a a 


a 


280 ^'' 


38 




a a 


a 


296 '^ 


39 




a a 


a 


311 '' 


40 




a a 


a 


327 '^ 


41 




a a 


a 


344 " 


42 




a a 


a 


361 " 


43 




a a 


a 


379 '' 


44 




a a 


a 


396 " 


45 




a a 


a 


415 '• 


46 


''■ 


a a 


a 


434 '' 


47 


a 


a a 


a 


453 '' 



WEIGHTS OF CASTIi^GS, 



379 



TABLE 11.— Continued. 



DIAMETER IN INCHES. 


FOR ROUND 


PLATES 1" THICK. 


WEIGHTS. 


48 inches. 


For round 


plates 1" tliick. 


472 lbs. 


49 






a a 


491 " 


50 






a a 


512 " 


51 






a a 


533 " 


52 






a a 


553 " 


53 






a a 


575 '' 


54 






a a 


597 " 


55 






a a 


620 '' 


56 






a ■ i( 


642 '' 


57 






a a 


665 '' 


58 






it (< 


689 '' 


59 






ii- a 


713 '' 


60 






a a 


737 " 


61 






a a 


762 '' 


62 






a a 


787 '' 


63 






a a 


813 '' 


64 






a a 


838 '' 


65 






a a 


865 '' 


6(j 






a a 


892 '' 


67 






i i i i 


919 '' 


68 






a a 


945 ** 


69 






a t. 


975 '' 


70 






a a 


1003 '' 


71 






a a 


1032 " 


72 






a a 


1061 '' 


73 






(( a 


1091 '^ 


74 






i( i( 


1122 " 


75 


^' 




(( a 


1153 '' 


76 


i< 




i( a 


1183 " 



380 



AVEIGHTS OF CASTINGS. 



TABLE U.— Continued. 



DIAMETER IN INCHES. 


FOR ROUND PLATES 1" 


THICK. 


WEIGHTS. 


77 inches. 


For round plates 1" 


thick. 


1214 


lbs. 


78 




(< a 


(C 


1246 




79 




a a 


a 


1278 




80 




a a 


i< 


1310 




81 




(( (( 


a 


1343 




82 




i( a 


(( 


1377 




83 




a a 


<( 


1410 




84 




a a 


a 


1445 




85 




a a 


a 


1479 




8G 




a a 


a 


1515 




87 




(< a 


a 


1550 




88 




a a 


a 


1586 




89 




a a 


i( 


1622 




90 




a a 


a 


1658 




91 




a i( 


i( 


1696 




92 




a a 


(( 


1733 




93 




a i< 


i( 


1772 




94 




a a 


i( 


1809 




95 




a i( 


it 


1848 




96 




a i( 


i( 


1887 




97 




a (( 


it 


1927 




98 




i( (( 


i( 


1967 




99 




a n 


a 


2007 




100 




{< (( 


(( 


2048 




101 




a it 


a 


2088 




102 




a a 


a 


2130 




103 




a i( 


i( 


2172 




104 




a a 


(< 


2215 




105 




a a 


a 


2257 





WEIGHTS OF CASTINGS. 
TABLE II.— Continued. 



381 



DIAMETER IN INCHES 



106 inches. 



107 


ie 


108 


a 


109 


i( 


110 


a 


111 


a 


112 


a 


113 


a 


114 


a 


115 


a 


116 


a 


117 


a 


118 


a 


119 


a 


120 


a 


121 


a 


122 


a 


123 


a 


124 


a 


125 


a 


126 


a 


127 


a 


128 


a 


129 


'•' 


130 


i. 


131 


a 


132 


'•' 


133 


•■• 


134 


a 


135 


£.' 



FOR ROUND PLATES 1" THICK. 



For round plates 1" thick. 



a 
(< 



a 

(C 






(( 

i( 

a 

a 



a 
a 
a 
a 
li 
li 
a 
a 



WEIGHTS. 



2300 lbs. 
2344 '' 



2388 


^'• 


2433 


li 


2477 


(I 


2523 


li 


2568 


li 


2614 


11 


2661 


'' 


2708 


^' 


2755 


ii 


2803 


11 


2851 


11 


2900 


ii 


2948 


'' 


2998 


11 


3047 


11 


3098 


'- 


3148 


'i 


3199 


'' 


3251 


'• 


3302 


•'■ 


3355 


^' 


3407 


^•' 


3460 


'* 


3514 


11 


3567 


'* 


3623 


^•' 


3676 


11 


3731 


*■• 



382 



WEIGHTS OF CASTINGS. 
TABLE U.— Continued. 



DIAMETER IN INCHES. 


FOB 


ROU]Nro 


PLATES 


1" 


THICK. 


WEIGHTS. 


136 inches. 


For 


round 


plates 


1" 


thick. 


3787 


lbs. 


137 


a 




a 


i( 




a 


3843 


ii 


138 


i( 




i( 


ii 




ii 


3899 


ii 


139 


'i 




i( 


ii 




a 


3956 


a 


140 


a 




a 


<^' 




ii 


4014 


ii 


141 


a 




it 


(i 




• k 


4071 


ii 


142 


a 




a 


'' 




ii 


4128 


'' 


143 


a 




(( 


ii 




ii 


4187 


(i 


144 


'i 




a 


ii 




ii 


4246 


a 



To find the weight of cast-iron balls. 

Multiply the cube of the diameter in inches by .1365,* 
and the product is the weight in pounds. — Hasivell. 

Example : To find the weight of a ball 12" in diameter. 
Diameter of ball, 



12" 

12 



Square of diameter, 



144 
12 

288- 
144 

1728 



1728 
.1365 

8640 
10368 
5184 

1728 



Cube of the diameter 
in inches, 

• Weight of ball in ) 335. 8730 = 235 AV lbs. 

pounds and decimals, j ^ ** ^ 

To find the weight of a hollow ball. Take from the table 

the weight given for ball having the same outside diameter, 

and subtract from this the weight given for a ball of the 

same inside diameter ; or multiply the difference of the 

cubes of the exterior and interior diameter in inches by . 1365. 

* The volume of a ball can be found by multiplying the cube of the 
diameter by .5236. The product multiplied by .2607 (the weight of a 
cubic inch of cast iron) will give the weight in poimds. 



I 



WEIGHTS OF CASTINGS. 
TABLE 111. 



383 



TABLES FOR THE WEIGHT OF BALLS HAVING DIAMETERS FROM 8 INCHES 

TO 60 INCHES. 



DIAMETER IN INCHES. 


FOR BALLS 


3 INCHES 


TO 29 INCHES. 


WEIGHTS. 


3 


inches. 


Solid balls 


3 to 29 inclies. 


^\ 


lbs. 


4 


a 


a 




ii 


{{ 


8| 


a 


5 


a 


i( 




ii 


ii 


17 


ii 


6 


*' 


a 




ii 


ii 


29i 


ii 


7 


li 


a 




ii 


ii 


47 


ii 


8 


a 


i( 




ii 


70 


ii 


9 


a 


a 




'' 


' ii 
/ 


100 


ii 


10 


a 


a 




'* 


ii 


137 


ii 


11 


'i 


a 




ii 


ii 


182 


ii 


12 


ii 


i i 




'' 


ii 


236 


ii 


13 


^• 


ii 




'i 


ii 


300 


a 


14 


a 


(i 




ii 


ii 


375 


ii 


15 


'i 


k »' 




'•■ 


•'• 


461 


ii 


16 


a 


ii 




• • 


ii 


559 


^^ 


17 


a 


ii 




ii 


'• 


671 


ii 


18 




•'•' 






ii 


796 


ii 


19 


••■ 


•' 






ii 


930 


'' 


20 


'.- 


•'•■ 








1092 


* • 


21 


<.'.' 


'•' 








1264 


^•' 


22 


a 


•• 








1454 


'' 


23 


a 


''•■ 








1661 


a 


24 


'.' 


.-. 








1887 


ii 


25 


a 


-' 








2133 


ii 


26 


•• 


•'•' 








2399 


ii 


. 27 


-■ 


•'•' 








2687 


ii 


28 


•• 


'' 








2995 


ii 


29 


i> 


'• 






ii 


3329 


ii 



^ 



384 



WEIGHTS OF CASTINGS. 
TABLE l\\.— Continued. 



DIAMETER IN INCHES. 


FOR BALLS 30 INCHES TO 


60 INCHES. 

• 


WEIGHTS. 


30 inches. 


Solid balls 30 to 60 inches. 


3686 lbs. 


31 




i( a 




4067 " 


32 




a a 




4473 '' 


33 




(( a 




4904 " 


34 




a a 




5365 " 


35 




a a 




5853 " • 


36 




a a 




6369 '' 


37 




a a 




6914 " 


38 




a a 




7490 " 


39 


4 


a a 




8097 '' 


40 




a a 




8736 '' 


41 




a a 




9408 " 


42 




a a 




10113 " 


43 




a a 




10853 '' 


44 




a a 




11628 '' 


45 




a (( 




12439 '' 


4G 




(< a 




13286 " 


47 




(( a 




14172 '' 


48 




a c( 




15096 '' 


49 




a (( 




16058 '' 


50 




a a 




17063 '' 


51 


ii 


a a 




18107 " 


52 




a ic 




19940 " 


53 




a li 




20321 " 


54 


a 


a a 




21494 " 


55 


iC 


a a 




22711 " 


56 


a 


a a 




23972 '' 


57 


a 


a a 




25278 '' 


58 


'' 


a a 




26633 " 


59 


a 


li a 




28034 '' 


60 


iC 


a a 




29484 '' 



WEIGHTS OF CASTINGS. 



385 



To find the lueiglit of cast-iron pipes or cylinders. 

Find the inside area of a pipe or cylinder by multiplying 
the square of the inside diameter by . 7854^ then find the 
outside area by multiplying the square of the outside diam- 
eter by .7854; subtract i\\Q former from the latter, and the 
product is the area in inches, which, multiplied by .2607 
(the weight of a cubic inch of cast iron), gives the weight 
in pounds for one inch of length. 

This product, multiplied by the length in inches, will 
give the weight. 

Example : To find the weight of a pipe or cylinder hav- 
ing an inside diameter of 12^" and f " inch thickness, and 
12" long. 



Outside area, 
Inside area. 

Area of circular ring, 



Weight of one inch long. 



153.938 
122.719 

31.219 

.2607 

218533 
1873140 
62438 

8.1387933 
12 



Weight of twelve inches long, 97.6655196 = 97tVo lbs. 
17 



386 



WEIGHTS OF CASTINGS. 



TABLE IV. 

TABLE FOR THE WEIGHT OF CAST-IRON PIPES OR CYLINDERS ONE FOOT LONG, 
VARYING FROM 6 INCHES TO 120 .INCHES IN DIAMETEK, AND ONE 
AND TWO INCHES IN THICKNESS. 



DIAMETER 


OF CORE. 


WEIGHT OF, 
1 INCH THICK. 


WEIGHT OF, 
2 INCHES THICK. 


6 inches. 


69 


lbs. 


157 lbs. 


7 


i( 


79 




177 '' 


8 


a 


89 




197 '' 


9 


a 


98 




216 '' 


10 


a 


108 




236 ^•' 


11 


a 


118 




256 '^ 


12 


a 


128 




275 '' 


13 


a 


138 




295 '' 


14 




148 




315 " 


15 


a 


157 




334 '' 


16 


a 


167 




354 '' 


17 


a 


177 




374 '' 


18 


a 


187 




393 '' 


19 


a 


197 




413 '' 


20 


a 


206 




433 '' 


21 


a 


216 




452 '' 


22 


a 


226 




472 " 


23 


a 


236 




492 " 


24 


i( 


246 




511 '' 


25 


a 


256 




531 '' 


26 


a 


265 




550 " 


27 


a 


275 




569 " 


28 


a 


285 




590 '' 


29 


a 


295 




609 " 


30 


a 


305 




629 '' 



I 



WEIGHTS OF CASTIiq-GS. 



387 



TABLE TV.—Continued. 



DIAMETKR 


OF CORE. 


WEIGHT OF, 
1 INCH THICK, 


WEIGHT 
2 INCHES 


OF, 
THICK. 


31 inches. 


315 


lbs. 


649 


lbs. 


32 


''•' 


324 


ii 


668 




33 


cc 


334 


ii 


688 




34 


<' 


344 


ii 


708 




35 


i i 


354 


ii 


727 




36 


ii 


364 


a 


747 




37 


ii 


374 


ii 


767 




38 


a 


383 


ii 


786 




39 


^•' 


393 


ii 


806 




40 


ii 


403 


ii 


826 




41 


ii 


413 


ii 


845 




42 


<•' 


423 


ii 


865 




43 


ii 


433 


ii 


885 




44 


^•' 


442 


a 


904 




45 


<' 


452 


ii 


924 




46 


ii 


462 


'' 


944 




47 


ii 


472 


ii 


963 




48 


• •' 


482 


ii 


984 




49 


<• 


492 


ii 


1003 




50 


'^• 


501 


ii 


1022 




51 


ii 


511 


ii 


1042 




52 


i' 


521 


ii 


1063 




53 


ii 


531 


ii 


1081 




54 


ii 


541 


ii 


1101 




65 


ii 


550 


ii 


1121 




56 


ii 


560 


ii 


1140 




57 


ii 


570 


ii 


1160 




58 


iC 


581 


ii 


1179 





388 



WEIGHTS OF CASTINGS. 



TABLE lY.— Continued. 



diametp:r 


OF CORE. 


WEIGHT OF, 
1 INCH THICK. 


WEIGHT OF, 
2 INCHES THICK. 


59 i 


nches. 


590 


lbs. 


1199 lbs. 


60 


a 


601 


a 


1219 '' 


61 


a 


610 


a 


1238 '' 


62 


a 


619 


a 


1258 '' 


63 


a 


629 


a 


1278 '' 


64 


a 


639 


a 


.1297 '' 


65 


a 


649 


a 


1317 '' 


m 


a 


658 


a 


1337 '' 


67 


a 


668 


a 


1357 '' 


68 


a 


678 


i( ■ 


1376 '' 


. 69 


i( 


688 


a 


1396 '' 


70 


a 


699 


a 


1415 '' 


71 


' i( 


707 


a 


1435 '' 


72 


a 


717 


a 


1454 " 


73 


a 


727 


a 


1474 '' 


74 


a 


737 


a 


1494 '' 


75 


'•' 


747 


a 


1514 '' 


76 


a 


757 


a 


1533 " 


77 


a 


767 


a 


1555 " 


78 


a 


777 


iC 


1573 " 


79 


"■•' 


787 


i( 


1592 '' 


80 


a 


796 


a 


1612 '' 


81 


'•' 


806 


a 


1632 '' 


82 


a 


816 


a 


1651 '' 


83 


li 


826 


i( 


1671 '' 


84 


•>' 


836 


a 


1691 '' 


85 


a 


845 


a 


1710 '' 


86 


»'•' 


855 


a 


1730 " 



WEIGHTS OF CASTINGS. 



389 



TABLE lY.— Continued. 



DIAMETER OF CORE. 


WEIGHT OF, 
1 INCH THICK. 


WEIGHT OF, 
2 INCHES THICK. 


87 inches. 


865 lbs. 


1750 lbs. 


88 ^•' 


875 ^'' 


1769 


a 


89 '' 


884 '' 


1788 


■ i 


90 ^• 


895 " 


1808 


a 


91 '■' 


904 "' 


1828 


' i 


92 ^• 


914 - 


1848 


■ c 


93 " 


924 " 


1867 


'' 


94 '' 


934 " 


1887 


' i 


95 '' 


944 '' 


1907 ' 


'C 


96 " 


953 ''^ 


1927 ' 


i 


97 ''•- 


963 " 


1946 ' 


■i 


98 ^'' 


973 ^^ 


1966 ' 


i 


99 '-' 


983 '' 


1985 


i 


100 " 


993 " 


2005 • 


i 


101 ^^ 


1003 ^' 


2025 ' 


i 


102 '' 


1012 " 


2044 ' 


< 


103 ^^ 


1023 " 


2064 ' 


' 


104 ^^ 


1032 " 


2084 ' 


i 


105 " 


1042 ^^ 


2103 ' 


■i 


106 " 


1052 '^ 


2123 


-i 


107 " 


1062 " 


2143 ' 


i 


108 ^^ 


• 1071 ^' 


2162 < 


i 


109 ^^ 


1081 " 


2182 


' i 


110 '' 


1091 " 


2202 


'i 


111 ^^ 


1101 '' 


2221 


'i 


112 '' 


1111 " 


2241 ' 


( 


113 '^ 


1121 " 


2261 * 


i 


114 '^ 


1130 ^' 


2280 " 



390 



WEIGHTS or CASTINGS. 



TABLE IV .—Continued. 



DIAMETER 


OF CORE. 


WEIGHT OF, 
1 INCH THICK. 


WEIGHT 
2 INCHES 


OF, 
THICK. 


115 inches. 


1140 


lbs. 


2300 


lbs. 


116 


a 


1150 


a 


2320 


a 


117 


a 


1160 


a 


2339 


a 


118 


li 


1169 


a 


2359 


a 


119 


a 


1180 


a 


2379 


iC 


120 


a 


1189 


a 


2398 


i( 



The weights of square plates and round ones, also halls 
and cylinders here given, comprise a set of tables that the 
author thinks will be found very useful as a means of assist- 
ing moulders in ascertaining the amount of iron required to 
fill such moulds (for hasing runners and gates he, of course, 
must add to the weights obtained). 

There are many different-shaped castings for which no 
set of tables can be given, and to find the weight of such 
the moulder will require special calculations. It is not 
necessary, in all cases, to take every crooTc ov jwojection into 
special account, as it does not require any great ability to 
get an average, or to determine wliat the size of a mould or 
pattern would be if its irregular p?'ojectio}is were all leveled 
or the holes filled up. Thus the size of the mould or pat- 
tern would come into plain and even surfaces. It is then 
an easy matter to obtain the volume or number of cubic feet 
or inches contained in a mould or pattern ; knowing which 
we can soon know what amount of iron will be required. 

To compute the weight of any shaped castings, find the 
number of cubic inches in the piece, then multiply by any 



I 



WEIGHTS OF CASTINGS. 391 

of tlie decimals given below, and the product will give the 
weight in pounds approximately. 

To ascertain tJie weights of castings by weighing solid 
wooden patterns, multiply the weight of pine patterns by 
sixteen, those of hard wood by twelve, and these products 
will be an approximation to the weight in iron. 

The decimal .2G07, the weight for a cubic inch of cast 
iron, which is here used as a multiplier, is taken from Has- 
WELL. There are two other decimals, .26 and .263, which 
are very often used in place of .2607, and by using them less 
figures are required. 

To figure on the safe side, as in the case of loam moulds 
or green sand moulds that are liable to strain much, and 
also for hard iron, the decimal .263 is the best to use. 

For ordinary moulds the decimal .26, used as a multi- 
plier of volumes or areas in inches, will be found to give 
sufficiently close answers. 



THE END. 



I 



